‘Caged Parrot’ haunting CBI again as Supreme Court grants Bail To Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: With the Supreme Court granted bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday, one amongst the pinnacle court’s most-repeated observations emerged haunting the CBI. The bench stated that the central probe agency should dispel the notion of being a “caged parrot”. Notably, Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21 this year within the Delhi excise policy case and owing to this fact by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on June 26. This move by the central agencies was over and over termed an “insurance arrest” by the Delhi Chief Minister’s counsel, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who accused the central government and the agencies of conspiring to keep him at the back of bars.

Justice Surya Kant, one amongst the bench, stated that there was “no impediment” in CM Kejriwal’s arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation, on the opposite hand, justice Ujjal Bhuyan had a different take.

“There's no impediment in arresting someone already in custody. We have noted that CBI in their application recorded reasons as to why they deemed (the arrest) necessary. There's no violation of Section 41A (3) of Code of Criminal Procedure,” said Justice Kant.

However, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said that there was no need of arresting Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for greater than 22 months.
“CBI failed to feel the should arrest him (Mr Kejriwal) though he was interrogated in March 2023 and it was best after his ED arrest was stayed that CBI became active and sought custody of Mr Kejriwal, and felt no need of arrest for over 22 months. Such action by the CBI raises serious questions in regards to the timing of the arrest and such an arrest by CBI was best to frustrate the bail granted within the ED case,” Bhuyan said.

“CBI failed to feel the should arrest him (Mr Kejriwal) though he was interrogated in March 2023 and it was best after his ED arrest was stayed that CBI became active and sought custody of Mr Kejriwal, and felt no need of arrest for over 22 months. Such action by the CBI raises serious questions in regards to the timing of the arrest and such an arrest by CBI was best to frustrate the bail granted within the ED case,” Bhuyan said.

The Origin Of The Caged Parrot Phrase

Back in 2013, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) gained a peculiar nickname – the “caged parrot.” It all unfolded within the wake of the infamous ‘Coalgate’ scandal related to coal license allocations to inner most businesses. Shockwaves rippled throughout the nation as the Supreme Court voiced its suspicions about interference in this high-profile investigation. A decision laid down by a trio of justices, headed by Justice RM Lodha, framed the CBI in an unflattering light, painting an image of it as nothing greater than a “caged parrot parroting its master’s commands.”

Watching that the heart of the report into the alleged scam had been changed on the suggestion of government officials, the bench had also asked the government to make the CBI impartial and make it that you would be in a position to to take into account for it functions freed from all external pressures, adding that it'd step in if this was not done.
Aside from haunting the CBI, this observation by the Apex Court also gave a couple of ammunition to the opposition to attack the then government which was led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The BJP said, “The party’s concerns have been vindicated by the Supreme Court which recently observed that ‘the heart of the CBI status report has been changed’ and ‘the CBI is caged parrot’. If the CBI status report was shared with a Joint Secretary (PMO), who had no business to appear it, did that happen without the understanding of the Prime Minister?

Since the torch of governance was passed to the BJP back in 2014, voices from Congress and strands of opposition have been unwavering in their assertion that the reigning party has been wielding CBI, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax department as political weapons. The echoing allegations have best grown stronger post the apprehension of a couple of renowned leaders. The names consist of stalwarts from Congress equivalent to P Chidambaram and DK Shivakumar; Hemant Soren, the leading figure of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha; K Kavitha representing Bharat Rashtra Samithi and AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, and Sanjay Singh, among others.