Delhi High Court Directs Tihar Jail to Respond to Kejriwal’s Plea for Extra Virtual Legal Meetings

The Delhi High Court has instructed Tihar Jail to respond to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's request for additional virtual meetings with his lawyers, following his arrest in the Delhi excise scam cases. The court will hear the argument on July 15, as Kejriwal seeks two extra legal consultations per week.

The Delhi High Court has directed Tihar Jail authorities to respond to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's plea for additional virtual meetings with his legal team, in light of his arrest in the Delhi excise scam cases.

Justice Neena Bansal Krishna has given the prison authorities five days to file their response and has scheduled the matter for arguments on July 15. Kejriwal is challenging a trial court's order from July 1 that denied his request for two extra weekly meetings with his lawyers via video conference.

Currently, Kejriwal, the Aam Aadmi Party's national convener, is granted two meetings with his legal team per week. His legal representatives argue that he needs additional meetings due to the 35 ongoing litigations he faces nationwide and to ensure a fair trial. The Enforcement Directorate has also indicated its intent to reply to the plea. The jail authority's counsel argued that rules allow only two legal meetings per week, asserting that not all 35 cases are heard simultaneously, thus negating the need for extra meetings.

The trial court had previously rejected Kejriwal's plea, stating that his lawyers failed to justify the necessity for additional legal consultations. In separate filings, Kejriwal has contested his arrest and sought bail in the corruption case tied to the alleged excise policy scam, with both petitions currently pending before the high court.

Kejriwal was arrested on June 26 by the CBI from Tihar Jail, where he is detained on related money laundering charges by the Enforcement Directorate. Although granted bail by a trial court on June 20 in the money laundering case, the high court stayed the trial court's order.

(With inputs from agencies.)