INDI-Alliance parties celebrated Sisodia’s release from captivity. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal remains incarcerated. Sisodia was the ultimate education minister, the New York Times said before his liquor policy pulled him several pegs down! Sisodia’s Delhi liquor policy jailed many stalwart politicians including K Kavitha, Bharat Rashtra Samithi Chief K Chandrasekhar Rao's daughter. Now Sisodia is a free-bird and K Kavitha is a jailbird.

Sisodia arrived home to the delight of his ailing wife. Sisodia got bail in a case related to the Delhi excise policy. The Supreme Court’s bail policy is not quite understood by lesser mortals. Manish Sisodia got bail and it shouldn’t have surprised anyone. But that the Supreme Court gave Sisodia bail is a surprise. Should we assume even the Supreme Court is tired of the Delhi excise policy case?

Perhaps. Why was Sanjay Singh given bail but Sisodia was left to count bars till he had them by memory? Is K. Kavitha a flee-risk? The AAP wants Manish Sisodia reinstated as Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister. Stands to reason because Chief Minister Kejriwal is in jail. Also, it is time the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Modi government stopped making a mountain out of a molehill.

If nobody else is happy, the Sisodia family must be over the moon. The court granted Sisodia regular bail. The charges were brought by the Central Bureau of Investigation, and the Enforcement Directorate. Sisodia’s excise policy played havoc with the Aam Aadmi Party. Delhi citizens couldn’t complain, the male adults among them, got two liquor bottles for the price of one. And to think that Sisodia spent time because he gave no reason for people to get drunk on their heels!

Justice BR Gavai and Justice KV Viswanathan opined it would be “travesty of justice” if bail wasn’t granted to Manish Sisodia. Opposition political parties can’t stop praising the two justices. Sisodia furnished a bail bond of ₹10 lakh and two sureties. He surrendered his passport. And he will present himself before the Investigating Officer twice a week. Last, he will not try to influence witnesses and tamper with evidence.

With that many conditions attached, people would think Sisodia wasn't an acclaimed education minister, but a dangerous predator. ED didn’t want Sisodia visiting the Delhi secretariat or the Chief Minister’s Office but the Supreme Court asked, why not? In fact, “Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia” should be the one to hoist the tricolour at the Delhi Secretariat on Independence Day. Kejriwal had sought permission for his minister Atishi Marlena to be given the honour. But then who knew Sisodia would get bail!

Atishi Marlena wouldn’t grudge Manish Sisodia the honour for all the jail-time he spent for AAP, the party accused of making money out of liquor of all brands, the best and the cheap. Let nobody also proclaim Manish Sisodia “innocent” just because he made bail. Sanjay Singh, for example, is convinced bail means all charges dropped and case closed. Oops, no. Bail for Singh and Sisodia does not mean they are scot-free.

The ED had told the apex court Sisodia is “neck-deep in the Delhi excise policy scam”. The only thing going for Sisodia was that he was languishing in jail and the trial was proceeding at a snail’s pace showing no sign of the case concluding in the next six or eight months. The top court has an overload of over 70,000 cases.

So, in a manner of speaking, Sisodia got bail because the Supreme Court itself is prosecuting cases at a snail’s pace! That Manish Sisodia got bail and went his way will be resented by hundreds of under-trial languishing in Tihar. Shashi Tharoor’s comment that “bail is rule” is sophistry. Politicians get bail, even if delayed bail.

But Sisodia got bail right when AAP needed him. In his absence, AAP became a “national party” and Manish Sisodia will be a stabilizing force in the chaos AAP finds itself in. INDI-Alliance partners have welcomed bail for Sisodia. They can’t thank the Supreme Court enough. The apex should put a stop to politicians thanking the top court for favourable rulings. Politicians are fickler than an autumn leaf.

Manish Sisodia was arrested for irregularities in the excise policy. The specific charge against Sisodia was that he was “instrumental in recommending and taking decisions pertaining to excise policy for the year 2021-22 without the approval of competent authority with an intention to extend undue favours to the licensee post tender”. The ED said Sisodia used “kickbacks” in the Goa and Punjab elections.

Is Sisodia out of the woods? Sisodia may not go back to jail anytime soon. Not when justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan declared that “realistically, tell us with 493 witnesses, even if you drop 50% of the witnesses, do you see any end of the tunnel?” Sisodia spent 17 months in jail and the trial has not begun! Prosecution says Sisodia is to blame for the snail’s pace. He kept filing applications, seeking the inspection of documents that were unrelated to the case, a total of 118 applications! (IPA Service)