SC Grants Interim Bail to AAP Leader Satyendar Jain on Medical Grounds

Amid reports of crumbling health, the Supreme Court on Tuesday, 6 May, granted interim bail for a period of six weeks to former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain on medical grounds.

In doing so, the apex court reportedly rejected the Enforcement Directorate's request that Jain should first be examined by a panel of doctors in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

"He was the Health Minister, these hospitals were under him. The medical records can be fudged. Let him be examined by a panel of doctors from AIIMS or Delhi. If he report is in his favour, I will concede," Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, representing the Enforcement Directorate, argued, according to LiveLaw.

Jain recently collapsed in Tihar Jail and had to be shifted to the ICU of a Delhi hospital. That was the second time in one week that Jain had to be rushed to a hospital for medical attention.

He was reportedly evaluated at Safdarjung Hospital on Monday, 22 May, for a spine injury that he had sustained from another fall in the jail's bathroom. 

His lawyer told the Supreme Court last week that the former minister had lost 35 kg and is essentially a "skeleton" suffering from various ailments.

The top court, while granting interim bail on Friday said that the bail will be subject to conditions imposed by the trial court and that Jain shall not go to the media "to make any statement on any issue" or attempt to influence the witnesses.

On 30 May last year, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Jain in connection with an alleged money laundering case.

Jain was a key minister in Kejriwal's Cabinet, holding portfolios including health, housing, and urban development. While still imprisoned, he had resigned from his ministerial posts in January this year.

(With inputs from LiveLaw and NDTV)