New Delhi: The air outside Delhi’s Tihar jail remained charged with energy on Friday afternoon as slogans such as “jail ka tala toot gaya, Manish Sisodia chhoot gaya (the locks of the jail broke & Manish Sisodia is out” echoed through the streets amid heavy rainfall.
Dressed in a red shirt and wearing a bright smile, Delhi’s former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who has been in jail for more than 17 months over alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped 2021-22 liquor policy, walked out Friday after the Supreme Court granted him bail.
Supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) burst firecrackers outside the jail to greet Delhi’s “not-so-forgotten” leader, and senior AAP leaders such as Sanjay Singh, Atishi, and Saurabh Bhardwaj welcomed Sisodia back into their fold.
As the tune of “Mera Rang De Basanti Chola” played, flower petals showered down on Sisodia, clinging to his partially bare head like a crown. The crowd cheered as he climbed onto the roof of his car and addressed them with the rousing cry of “Inquilab Zindabad.”
Thanking his supporters, Sisodia said, “The dream of Babasaheb has come true. He knew that if a dictatorial government ever came to power and put Opposition leaders behind bars through draconian laws, the Constitution of this country would protect them.”
He added: “I assure you that with the power of this Constitution, Arvind Kejriwal will also walk free from jail.”
The streets outside Tihar jail were lined with people, many standing on the dividers, forcing traffic to a standstill. People waited for a glimpse of their leader, who did not disappoint them. Sisodia shook hands with those who had come to support him before making his way through the crowd.
After expressing his gratitude to the people of Delhi, Sisodia also thanked advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who had been fighting for his release in court.
“For me, Abhishek Manu Singhvi is nothing short of a god — he’s the one who got me out of jail,” Sisodia said, his voice filled with emotion.
The court, while granting Sisodia bail, noted that with 495 witnesses and thousands of documents spanning hundreds of thousands of pages, his trial is unlikely to be completed anytime soon and to keep him in custody indefinitely while hoping for a speedy trial would seriously violate the fundamental right to personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21.
While thanking the top court for “upholding democratic values”, one of the AAP supporters said, “This is not just a win for the Aam Aadmi Party, but also for the common people who believed in him and his education policies. This is a victory for every kid who dreams of studying at institutions such as IIT.”
Sisodia had submitted two separate bail petitions. One of the bail petitions was in the case filed against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The other concerned the case filed by the Enforcement Directorate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The court has granted him bail in both cases.
Sisodia was initially arrested by the CBI on 26 February last year, followed by his arrest by the ED on 9 March.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)