Atishi breaks down at Dwarka event after SC grants bail to Manish Sisodia
She alleged that he was sent to jail because he provided good education to children and allocated 25 per cent of the budget to education
Delhi Education Minister Atishi broke down on Friday (August 9) following the Supreme Court’s decision to grant bail to former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the liquor policy case.
Inaugurated a school in Dwarka, an emotional Atishi said, “They kept him in jail for 17 months on false charges, and today, he has been granted bail. Today, is the day that the man behind the education revolution of Delhi has been granted bail,” she said. “Today, truth has triumphed, and education has won, the children have won,” she added.
Atishi alleged that he was sent to jail because he provided good education to children and allocated 25 per cent of the budget to education. “This made him an excellent education minister,” she said.
In a post on X in Hindi, AAP MP Raghav Chadha said, “The whole country is happy today as Manish Sisodia, the hero of Delhi education revolution, got bail. I express my gratitude to the Honourable Supreme Court from the bottom of my heart. Manishji was kept behind bars for 530 days. His crime was that he gave a better future to the children of the poor. Dear children, your Manish uncle is coming back,” he said.
Hailing Sisodia's bail as a “victory of truth”, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, said, “This verdict is a slap on the Centre's dictatorship. He was in jail for 17 months. His life was destroyed in those months. He could have worked for the education of children during that time. We hope that other leaders of the party, Arvind Kejriwal and Satyendar Jain, will also get bail and justice.”
Earlier, a bench of justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan said Sisodia has been in custody for 17 months and trial has not yet commenced, depriving him of the right to speedy trial.
Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 26 last year for purported irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested him in the money laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9 last year. He resigned from the Delhi cabinet on February 28 in 2023.
(With agency inputs)