The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to Vijay Nair – accused of alleged money laundering – relating to irregularities in, now scrapped, 2021-22 Delhi Excise Policy.

Noting that Nair is in jail for the last 23 months, a bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice SVN Bhatti said, “The universal proposition of bail being the rule and jail being the exception will be entirely defeated if the petitioner is kept in custody as an under trial for a long duration.”

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Granting bail to Vijay Nair, the court imposed conditions that were imposed on former Delhi Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and BRS leader K Kavitha while the top court granted them bail.

The court said that the right of liberty under Article 21 is a sacrosanct right which requires it to be respected even in cases where stringent provisions are enacted under special laws.

“In the case at hand, the petitioner is in custody for 23 months and his incarceration as under trial cannot be a mode of punishment without trial being commenced,” the court said.

Vijay Nair had challenged the Delhi High Court order which denied him bail. Earlier trial court had rejected the bail plea by Nair.

Initially Nair was arrested by CBI in September 2022 and later by ED in the matter. He has sought bail on the ground of parity that co-accused Manish Sisodia has been granted bail and trial has not been commenced in the matter. Nair counsel also submitted that his client should not continue in incarceration and deserved to be released on bail.

Earlier in his bail plea before trial court, Nair had stated that he was only the media and communications in charge of the AAP and was not involved in the drafting, framing or implementation of the excise policy in any manner and that he was being “victimised” for his political affiliation. Nair had stated that the allegations against him are wrong, false and baseless.

He had asserted that his arrest by Enforcement Directorate on November 13, 2022, was completely illegal and “appears to be motivated by extraneous considerations” given that the special court was expected to pronounce orders on his bail plea in the corruption case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.