SC To Decide Upon Chidambaram's Plea Against Delhi HC Judgment Which Spiked His Pre-Arrest Bail, On September 5

The Supreme Court has reserved orders on a petition filed by former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram against the Delhi High Court’s August 20 judgment which had refused him pre-arrest bail in the INX media case.

The court has posted the matter to be decided on September 5, clarifying that the interim protection from arrest granted to Chidambaram would continue until that date.

The court heard Chidambaram’s bail plea seeking protection from arrest by Enforcement Directorate for alleged money laundering in the INX transaction.

It may be recalled that on August 23, his bail plea before the Delhi High Court was dismissed as “infructuous”.

Meanwhile, the the Solicitor General told the court that investigation was an agency's prerogative and the court ought not to interfere in the manner of investigation, adding that the decision of the investigating agency must be given importance about the need to interrogate Chidambaram in custody.

The Solicitor General stated that giving Chidambaram anticipatory bail would reduce interrogation to a mere ritual, since the court can't conduct an investigation.

He argued that money laundering has a grave impact on the nation's economy, and therefore the Delhi High Court rightly treated the offense as grave.

He also refuted Chidambaram’s laywer’s argument about retrospective application of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) stating that Section 8 of the Act was always there and in any case, the offense was continued even after the 2007 INX transaction.

Making his rejoinder argument, Chidambaram’s lawyer Kapil Sibal stated that the demand to arrest his slient is unfair and unreasonable.

He emphasized that then Delhi High Court judge Justice Sunil Gaur had simply 'copy-pasted' contents of a sealed cover note submitted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and called it “the finding of the court”.