Delhi court acquits Arvind Kejriwal in ED cases for intentional non-appearance to summonses

Former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

In a relief to Arvind Kejriwal, a Delhi court on Thursday acquitted the former chief minister in two separate cases lodged against him for not appearing before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in pursuance of the summonses asking him to join the probe in the alleged excise policy scam.

Observing that the accused was a serving chief minister and "he too enjoyed his fundamental right of movement", a Delhi court held that "the legal challenge to due service of summons is maintainable".

The court said, "Neither the service of summons through emails has been proved by the ED… nor the process of issuing summons to any person under Section 50(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) via email has been proved to be in accordance with the law." "Even if, for the sake of argument, these summonses are admitted to be proved, the entire process is antithetical to the rule of law. No such mode of service is envisaged under the PMLA or the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). The onus was strict on the ED to prove that it could summon any person under Section 50(2) of the PMLA," Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Paras Dalal said.

The ED alleged it issued summonses, which were duly served, and yet the then chief minister intentionally omitted to obey the summonses and did not attend the probe.

It also alleged Kejriwal raised frivolous objections and deliberately created grounds for not attending the probe.

The court underlined procedural, legal and factual challenges to the ED's case regarding Kejriwal's culpability.

It said, "The complainant (ED) has failed to prove due service of summons against the accused in the absence of a supporting affidavit under Section 65 B (admissibility of electronic records) under the Evidence Act. Even for the sake of argument, the legal requirement under the rules of evidence is disregarded, the service by email is not valid or legal under the CrPC or the PMLA." The court said that the ED also failed to prove that Kejriwal intentionally disobeyed the summonses.

It said, "The prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, and the accused person is entitled to be exonerated of the charge against him in the present case. Accordingly, the accused Arvind Kejriwal is hereby acquitted of the offence punishable under Section 174 ( Non-attendance in obedience to an order from a public servant) of the IPC."