Swati Maliwal assault: Supreme Court grants bail to Arvind Kejriwal-aide Bibhav Kumar

The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to Bibhav Kumar, the aide of Delhi Chief Minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal, in the case of alleged assault against Member of Parliament (MP) Swati Maliwal [Bibhav Kumar v State of NCT of Delhi]..A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan took note of the fact that Kumar had already spent more than 100 days in custody, and the trial was likely to take some time as more than 51 witnesses are to be examined. "You cannot keep a person in jail for over 100 days when the injuries are simple. See the medical report. You have to balance both, not oppose bail here," Justice Bhuyan told the Delhi Police during the hearing of Kumar's bail plea. .The Court in July had issued notice on Kumar's bail plea. During the hearing today, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju opposed the bail at this stage, saying that more witnesses should be examined first before the trial court.However, the Court said it would put in place remedial measures to ensure witnesses are not influenced."In our quest to strike a balance between `liberty’ on one hand and `a fair trial’ on the other, we appreciate the concern of the prosecution that the witnesses must be kept free from any kind of extraneous pressure or influence to enable them to depose fearleslly.""We are, however, satisfied that the desired protection can be afforded through various alternative measures including by imposing such reasonable terms and conditions which would prevent the propensity to influence the witnesses or tamper with the evidence. In any case, any such attempt by the beneficiary of a discretionary jurisdiction of the Court, will amount to misuse of concession of bail and the necessary consequences would, thus," it said in the order.Accordingly, the Court imposed following conditions,(i) The petitioner shall not be restored to the position of Private Secretary to the Chief Minister of Delhi and shall also not be given any other assignment during the pendency of the trial(ii) The petitioner shall not enter the premises of the Chief Minister’s Residence or Office till all the vulnerable witnesses are examined by the Trial Court. (iii) The prosecution is directed firstly to produce important and private vulnerable witnesses. Such witnesses should be examined first by the Trial Court(iv) The Trial Court shall make an endeavour to examine the important or vulnerable witnesses as early as possible, and preferably within three months(v) The petitioner shall not make any public comments on the merits of the issues, which are sub-judice before the Trial Court. This condition is imposed at this stage to safeguard the victim’s rights and to dissuade a recent tendency of building self-serving narrative on public platformsIt clarified that Kumar is at liberty to raise all his contentions during trial..How to deal with social media abuse and trolling? Supreme Court's two cents.Justice Bhuyan as the hearing drew to a close asked ASG Raju not to refer to accused undertrials as criminals..Kumar has been in jail since May 18 this year. The incident against MP Maliwal allegedly occurred on May 13 at Kejriwal's official residence.Maliwal, who was associated with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), had reportedly come to meet Kejriwal while he was out on interim bail in the Delhi Excise Policy case.As per the criminal complaint, Kumar hit Maliwal in her chest, stomach and pelvic area. Maliwal also claimed that she was threatened with dire consequences if she filed a complaint.AAP denied the allegations and later removed Maliwal from the party's 'star campaigners' list in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.Some videos that surfaced on social media reportedly showed Maliwal having an argument with security personnel and walking out of the CM residence..A trial court had earlier rejected Kumar's bail plea twice - first on May 27 and then on June 7.The Delhi High Court also denied him bail on July 12, opining that though Kumar happened to be only the PS to the CM, he would still wield considerable power and may influence witnesses..Senior Counsel Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Mukta Gupta appeared for Bibhav Kumar, assisted by Advocates Vivek Jain and Karan Sharma.Advocates Sanjeev Sahay, Shagufa Salim, and Shagun Saproo appeared for Swati Maliwal..[Read order]