- Kejriwal and AAP deny the allegations and say the cases are “politically motivated”.
- Modi's opponent is expected to campaign in the Haryana elections.
- Kejriwal's arrest is an attempt by Modi's BJP, say opposition parties.
NEW DELHI: India's Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to opposition leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a corruption case, paving the way for his release nearly six months after he was arrested.
Kejriwal's release is expected to boost morale in his decade-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) by allowing it to campaign in regional elections next month in the northern state of Haryana, where the AAP is trying to make inroads, and in Delhi early next year.
Kejriwal was first arrested in March by India's financial crimes enforcement agency, weeks before the country's national elections, in connection with alleged irregularities in the capital's liquor policy.
Although he was granted bail in that case in July, he remained in detention because he had been arrested a month earlier by federal police in a corruption case related to the same policy.
Kejriwal, 55, and AAP deny the allegations and say the cases are “politically motivated”.
Ordering Kejriwal's release, Justice Surya Kant said the issue relating to “freedom” and “prolonged imprisonment” could not be justified.
However, the two-judge bench was divided over Kejriwal's appeal challenging his arrest, with Kant holding that it was legal while Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said the timing raised serious questions.
The federal police “must not only be transparent but also be seen to remain so… in a functioning democracy governed by the rule of law, perception matters,” Bhuyan said.
In its first reaction after the verdict, AAP said: “Truth can be questioned, but it cannot be defeated.”
Opposition parties have been demanding Kejriwal's release, saying his arrest was an attempt by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to deny them equal opportunities in elections, allegations denied by Modi and the BJP.
Other countries, including the United States, had called for a “fair” and impartial trial.
On Friday, the BJP said Kejriwal's bail did not mean he was innocent.
