Bail is rule, jail exception even in PMLA cases: Supreme Court
New Delhi, August 28
The Supreme Court on Wednesday held that even in money laundering cases, bail is a rule and jail is an exception, and granted relief to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s aide in an illegal mining related case registered by the Enforcement Directorate.
A Bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan said the court has held that even in cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), “bail is a rule and jail is an exception.”
The Bench said no person should be deprived of its liberty and Section 45 of the PMLAdoes not rewrite the principle to mean that deprivation of liberty is the norm. The top court referred to the August 9 verdict in the money laundering and corruption cases involving former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia to say that liberty of the individual is always the rule and deprivation of it by procedure established by law is the exception.
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