The Supreme Court on Tuesday said bail applications should not be unnecessarily delayed, expressing hope that the Delhi High Court would quickly decide on the default bail plea of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendar Jain.
A division bench of Justices Manoj Misra and SVN Bhatti’s bench directed the Delhi High Court to decide the bail plea filed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendar Jain without delay.
“It goes without saying that bail prayers are not unnecessarily to be adjourned and thus we hope and pray that High Court takes a call on the matter when it is listed next,” the Court observed.
This followed after Jain’s lawyer, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, pointed out how the plea had been postponed for six weeks. “Six weeks adjournment over the vacation. Earlier it was held that such cases be dealt with within a week,” Singhvi said. To which the court remarked, “We will observe that High Court will ensure that matter is decided (fast).”
However, it declined to consider Jain’s request that the issue involved an important legal question which should be heard by the Supreme Court. “Why should we observe for deferment of your case (before High Court). Let High Court decide and then Supreme Court can take a call,” the Bench observed.
Therefore, it dismissed the plea while urging the High Court not to delay the hearing.
“This petition is against an order of Delhi High Court adjourning the hearing of bail application by Satyendra Jain. Senior Counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi submits that the question of law which would govern the decision of High Court is engaging attention of this court and thus this matter be tagged with Supreme Court case. We do not find merit in that submission as High Court is yet to take a call and if High Court takes a decision then a remedy is before Supreme Court,” the Court order read, as quoted by Bar and Bench.
The Court was hearing a plea by Jain protesting against the long delay of his default bail plea by the Delhi High Court. The High Court had issued notice on the bail plea on May 28, but then adjourned the matter until July 9. Jain was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in May 2022 on accusations of involvement in money laundering.
He spent a year in jail before being granted interim bail by the Supreme Court on medical grounds in 2023. He returned to jail after his extended interim bail ended, and the Supreme Court rejected his regular bail plea, ordering him to surrender to jail authorities immediately. Earlier, both a Delhi trial court and the Delhi High Court had turned down his regular bail pleas.
The Delhi High Court recently seeked the ED’s response on a default bail plea by AAP. The ED’s case against Jain stemmed from a CBI FIR alleging he had acquired movable properties in others’ names from 2015 to 2017 without sufficient explanation. Additionally, the ED has claimed that companies under Jain received Rs 4.81 crore from shell firms, transferred via hawala to Kolkata-based operators.