Supreme Court reiterates 'bail is a rule and jail the exception' observation

In a judgement, the bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan said as quoted by NDTV, "Relying on the judgment in Manish Sisodia, we have said that even in PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act), bail is a rule and jail the exception."

The court said any incriminating evidence by the accused to the probing officer will not be admissible as evidence.

"The appellant is not prima facie guilty of the offences and unlikely to tamper with evidence, hence a fit case for bail. Observations are only limited to bail and shall not influence the trial in accordance with law," the top court said as quoted by NDTV.

This comes a day after BRS leader K Kavitha was granted bail in a money laundering case linked to the alleged liquor policy scam.

On August 9, the Supreme Court blasted the lower courts for not giving former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia bail in the liquor policy case after his arrest which took place 18 months ago.

The top court said bail is a right and denying it is a violation of Article 21.

"High court and trial court are playing safe in matters of bail... Bail is a rule, and jail is an exception," the top court said and added as quoted by NDTV, "Keeping him behind bars for the purpose of completion of trial will be nothing but a violation of Article 21."

"Sending the appellant back to the trial court would be like playing a game of snakes and ladders with him," it said.

Sisodia, a top leader of Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party, was granted bail earlier this month.