On a day a Delhi court extended his judicial custody until October 17, former finance minister P Chidambaram moved the Supreme Court seeking bail in the INX Media case. He alleged that the CBI was trying to prolong his judicial custody to humiliate him, and urged that the principle ‘bail is the rule, jail is the exception’ be followed in his case. The former minister has, however, been allowed home-cooked food.
The Congress veteran said the Delhi HC had erred in denying him bail on the basis of unsubstantiated allegations. Appearing for him, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and A M Singhvi urged the SC to list the plea for urgent hearing as Chidambaram had been in custody for 42 days and the SC would break for Durga Puja vacation next week.
No court relief for Chinmayanand too
A Bareilly court has extended the judicial custody of former minister Chinmayanand, accused of rape by a UP law student, by 14 days till October 16. Saying Chinmayanand had health issues, his lawyer pleaded that he be shifted from Shahjahanpur jail. P 8
Judicial custody being used as pre-trial punishment: PC
Chidambaram’s plea for bail has been listed for hearing before an SC bench of Justices R Banumathi and Hrishikesh Roy on Friday. On September 5, a bench headed by Justice Banumathi had denied anticipatory bail to P Chidambaram in the INX Media money laundering case lodged by the ED.
On Thursday, a Delhi court accepted his plea for home food in jail after Sibal and Singhvi listed out a series of ailments that required him to consume home-cooked food. “He is 74 years of age... is suffering from inflammation of his digestive tract. In these circumstances, it may be conducive to his health condition that he is provided home-cooked food once a day to avoid further deterioration in his health condition,” special judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar said. The court, however, clarified that the order could not to be taken as a precedent as the concession for home food was given in the specific circumstances and keeping his medical condition in mind.
In the SC, Sibal and Singhvi argued that the Delhi HC had erred by relying upon “anonymous and unverified allegations” while rejecting Chidambaram’s bail plea on September 30.
“Bail is the rule, jail is the exception. Arrest and custody are a humiliation and social stigma. The prosecution seems to think that prolonged judicial custody is a punishment they can impose on the petitioner. Court should frown upon the attempt of the prosecution to use judicial custody as kind of pre-trial punishment,” Chidambaram said. He also cited his frail health and said he was agreeable to any condition by the court for granting him bail.
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