‘Caged Parrot’ Tag Returns To Haunt CBI After Supreme Court’s Bail To Arvind Kejriwal

One of the Supreme Court’s most-repeated observations made a comeback on Friday when a bench, while granting bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, said that the CBI must dispel the notion of being a “caged parrot”.

The AAP chief had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21 in the Delhi excise policy case and then by the Central Bureau of Investigation on June 26, a move that has repeatedly been called an insurance arrest by Mr Kejriwal’s counsel, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who has said it was done to ensure that he stays behind bars.

While Justice Surya Kant, one-half of the two-judge bench, said there was “no impediment” in Mr Kejriwal’s arrest by the CBI, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan had a different take.

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

Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, however, noted, “CBI did not feel the need to arrest him (Mr Kejriwal) even though he was interrogated in March 2023 and it was only 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 on the timing of the arrest and such an arrest by CBI was only to frustrate the bail granted in the ED case.”

The judge then said that the CBI must show it is an uncaged parrot and that Caesar’s wife should be above suspicion, implying that the agency must avoid even the implication of impropriety.

“CBI must be seen above board and every effort must be made so that arrest is not in a high-handed manner. In a country, perception matters and CBI must dispel the notion of being a caged parrot and must show it is an uncaged parrot. CBI should be like Caesar’s wife, above suspicion,” Justice Bhuyan said.

Origins

The “caged parrot” phrase first came to haunt the CBI in 2013, when it was pulled up by the Supreme Court for alleged interference in its investigation into the allocation of coal licences to private companies, which came to be known as the ‘Coalgate’ scam.

Coming down heavily on the premier investigating agency, a three-judge bench headed by Justice RM Lodha had said it was a “caged parrot speaking in its master’s voice”.

Observing 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 ensure that it functions free of all external pressures, adding that it would step in if this was not done.

Attack, Counter-Attack

Apart from becoming a millstone around the CBI’s neck, the observations also gave the opposition ammunition to attack the then-UPA government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Leading the charge, the BJP had 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 see it, did that happen without the knowledge of the Prime Minister?”

After the BJP came to power in 2014, the Congress and other opposition groups have repeatedly accused the party of misusing agencies like the CBI, Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax department. The voices have only grown louder with the arrest of leaders like the Congress’ P Chidambaram and DK Shivakumar, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s K Kavitha and the AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, among others.

The opposition parties have also alleged that the BJP has been using the threat of investigation by the agencies to get leaders to either not raise their voices against the government or join the ruling party.

Seizing on the Supreme Court’s observations, AAP leader and Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said on Friday, “What the Supreme Court has said about central investigating agencies is a big rebuke to the Centre. The court has said that the ‘caged parrot’ observation still holds true and that the central investigating agencies were engaged in a conspiracy to keep Mr Kejriwal in jail.”