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'PMLA not a tool for...': HC grants bail to Satyendar Jain's ‘aides’ in money laundering case involving AAP leader
On October 18, Jain was given bail by the Rouse Avenue Court, over two years after his May 2022 arrest by the Enforcement Directorate.
The Delhi high court on Tuesday granted bail to two ‘aides’ of Satyendar Jain in the money laundering case involving the AAP leader, days after the former minister was given bail by the Rouse Avenue Court, over two years after his May 2022 arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri approved reprieve for Vaibhav and Ankush Jain with the observation that the stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), that imposes restrictions on bail, is not to be used as a ‘tool for incarceration.’
Further, the judge pointed out that the trial would not conclude in a ‘reasonable time’ and the accused had been under ‘incarceration' for a 'long time.’
Jain had got relief on the same grounds.
“Section 45 of the PMLA does not create an absolute prohibition on bail. When there is no possibility of the trial being concluded in a reasonable time and the accused is incarcerated for a long time, the conditions under Section 45 give way to the constitutional mandate of Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty),” Justice Ohri wrote in his 18-page order.
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“There are several accused; thousands of pages of evidence to be assessed; scores of witnesses to be examined and the trial, which was at the stage of arguments on charge, could not be expected to conclude ‘anytime in the near future’,” it added.
Underlining that ‘bail was the rule and jail the exception,' the court ordered regular bail for the applicants on conditions of personal bonds of ₹one lakh each and not leaving Delhi-NCR without it's permission.
According to ED, Vaibhav and Ankush Jain, as ‘business associates’ of the senior AAP member, had ‘abetted’ the commission of the money laundering offence.
(With PTI inputs)
