Delhi High Court
Acting Chief Justice Manmohan on Wednesday cautioned lawyers against staging
protests on court premises against the arrest of Chief Minister and AAP
national convener Arvind Kejriwal, saying the consequences would be
"severe".
The Aam Aadmi
Party's legal cell has called for a protest in district courts here on
Wednesday following Kejriwal's arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a
Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case.
"Consequences
would be severe for organising protest in court. Courts cannot be withheld.
Courts cannot be stopped. We cannot take away someone's right to approach the
court," Justice Manmohan said.
"If someone
does it, they would do it at their own peril," he asserted.
The issue was
mentioned before a bench of the acting chief justice and Justice Manmeet P S
Arora by advocate Vaibhav Singh who said that court premises cannot be used for
political purposes.
Justice Manmohan
said he would take up the issue tomorrow, hoping that "sense will
prevail". He added that action would be taken if required.
Kejriwal was
arrested on March 21 and subsequently remanded to ED custody till March 28 by a
Delhi court. He faces allegations of direct involvement in a conspiracy related
to the formulation of the excise policy favouring specific individuals.