“Bail prayers are not unnecessarily adjourned,” says Supreme Court to Delhi HC asking them to take a call without delay in Satyendra Jain’s bail plea

Today (June 25, 2024), the Supreme Court (SC) of India was hearing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendra Jain’s challenge against the May 28 order of the Delhi High Court (HC) adjourning his default bail plea to July 09, 2024. The bench constituting Justice Manoj Misra and Justice SVN Bhatti observed that bail applications are not unnecessarily adjourned. Further, it hoped that the Delhi HC would decide the default bail plea of AAP leader Jain without any delay. During the proceedings, the SC asked Senior Advocate (SA) AM Singhvi who appeared for AAP leader Jain regarding the impugned order. SA Singhvi replied that the challenge was against the order of adjournment. He added “Six weeks adjournment over the vacation. Earlier it was held that such cases be dealt with within a week.” The bench remarked, “We will observe that the High Court will ensure that matter is decided.” Therefore, the SC declined to entertain the plea and said, “Why should we observe for deferment of your case (before the High Court)? Let the High Court decide and then the Supreme Court can take a call.” 

The Supreme Court’s order reads, “This petition is against an order of the Delhi High Court adjourning the hearing of the bail application to 09.07.2024. Mr. Singhvi submits that the question of law which would govern the decision of the High Court is engaging the attention of a 3-judge bench of this Court and therefore it is appropriate that this matter is tagged with that matter. We do not find any merit in the submission because the High Court will decide the matter on its own merits and if the petitioner is aggrieved with the High Court's order, he can challenge it. At this stage, Mr.Singhvi submits that this Court observes that the High Court decides the matter on the date fixed. It goes without saying that bail prayers are not unnecessarily adjourned and thus we hope and trust that the High Court takes a call in the matter when it is listed next.”

AAP leader Satyendra Jain was arrested in the money laundering case in May 2022 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and was granted interim bail, by the top court, in 2023 on medical grounds. After completion of his extended interim bail, Jain returned to jail. The top Court rejected his regular bail plea and ordered him to surrender before the jail authorities. He was accused of laundering money through 3 companies. Today, the SC bench called upon the Delhi HC to decide Satyendra Jain’s bail plea as soon as possible.