- By Aashish Vashistha
- Wed, 28 Aug 2024 11:58 AM (IST)
- Source:PTI
The Supreme Court on Wednesday (August 28) said that ‘bail is rule and jail the exception’ even in PMLA cases while granting bail to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren's aide in the money laundering case, news agency PTI reported.
The apex court announced the decision as it granted bail to Prem Prakash, an alleged aide of Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren in a money laundering case while setting aside the judgment of the High Court.
The top court reiterated that Section 45 of the PMLA lays down the twin conditions that should be met in order to consider bail for an accused in a money laundering case.
The court stated that it relied on its judgment in AAP leader Manish Sisodia's case, where he was granted bail in the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam.
“Relying on the judgment in Manish Sisodia, we have said that even in PMLA, bail is a rule and jail the exception. Liberty of the individual is always the rule and deprivation, by the procedure established by law, the exception," a bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan said, as quoted by Bar and Bench.
The Supreme Court ruled that confessions made by an accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to an investigating officer are generally not admissible as evidence. The court cited Section 25 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (formerly the Indian Evidence Act) as the basis for this decision.
"We hold statements of the appellant, if found to be incriminating, will be hit by Section 25. It would be a travesty to make the statement admissible merely because he was then under custody for another ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report). It will be extremely unfair to make such statements admissible as it would be against all canons of justice," it said.
Notably, several politicians including Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, K Kavitha, Hemant Soren have PMLA cases pending against them.