A Delhi court on Wednesday rejected a plea filed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is under arrest in a money laundering case, seeking additional time with his lawyers. The court cited applicable regulations, stating they were equally relevant to him and other detainees. It alleged that Kejriwal had purportedly utilized legal consultations permitted by the court to issue administrative directives.
Special judge for cases involving the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Kaveri Baweja, dismissed Kejriwal’s request for five lawyer meetings per week, claiming he had not demonstrated that he had exclusively used the two authorized legal meetings per week to discuss pending legal matters with his counsel.
“The status report/note filed by the ED indicates that the applicant had dictated certain directions for being passed on to the Water Minister, to one of his lawyers (whose name he refused to disclose to the ED) during the course of a legal meeting. It thus appears that the applicant is not even utilizing the permitted two legal interviews per week with his counsels solely for discussing his pending litigations and has rather used the allotted time for purposes other than legal interviews in the aforesaid manner,” the judge said, as quoted by PTI.
Referring to a Delhi High Court ruling, which asserts that every Indian citizen is entitled to legal protection, the judge rebuffed Kejriwal’s contention that he required additional time with his lawyer due to approximately 35 pending cases nationwide. The judge noted the lack of essential details regarding these cases, such as their number, nature, and current stage of proceedings.
“In the absence of any such objective criteria for assessment, the prayer of the applicant for five legal interviews with his lawyers per week not only appears to be whimsical but also seems to have been made without any statistical basis or objective standards for assessment,” the judge said.
The ED opposed Kejriwal’s plea, arguing against granting special privileges to him on the grounds of wanting to govern from jail. It alleged misuse of legal consultations by Kejriwal for purposes beyond consultation.
Kejriwal has reportedly issued governance-related instructions from behind bars, with his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) asserting his ability to govern while incarcerated.