Kejriwal’s Letter to Delhi LG “Filed” by Prison Authorities for “Breach of Privilege”

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Aug 12: the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, currently in Tihar jail in connection with the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam, has deputised his education minister Atishi to hoist the national flag on the Independence Day in his place as he was behind the bar.

Mr Kejirwal is believed to have send a communication to the Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena to this effect, but Saxena’s office said he had not received any such communication and now the Tihar jail authorities have revealed that the purported letter was never sent to the addressee and was filed as it amounted to breach of privileges of the under trials.

Mr Kejriwal’s decision to deputise Atishi to hoist flag in his place was formally announced by the Aam Aadmi Party leader and environment minister Gopal Rai on Monday. “As per the decision of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Cabinet Minister Atishi will hoist the Tricolour in his absence on August 15,” read the notification by the Delhi government shared by AAP.

Rai has also written a letter to the General Administration Department (GAD) saying, “I had a meeting with the chief minister today. He desires that minister Atishi should hoist the flag on 15th August 2024 at the Chhatrasal Stadium event in his place. All the necessary arrangements be made accordingly.”

Every year, the Delhi government’s Independence Day function takes place at Chhatrasal Stadium where chief minister Kejriwal addresses the gathering. Earlier, on August 7, AAP announced that chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has also written to the Delhi LG that Atishi would hoist the national flag in his place.

However, the LG office denied receiving any such communication from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). A Raj Niwas official said, “With regards to the claims in various sections regarding the flag hoisting on August 15, it is clarified that the LG secretariat is not in receipt of any such communication whatsoever.”

The Tihar jail authorities, however, revealed that Mr Kejriwal’s letter to the LG was never dispatched from the jail. “The letter was a “breach of privilege” and has not been sent to him, Tihar jail authorities have said. The Chief Minister has been advised to “desist from any such impermissible activity” or his privileges would be curtailed, reports said.

Mr Kejriwal wrote to the Lieutenant Governor last week, saying in his stead, Delhi minister Atishi will hoist the flag on August 15. In the letter to Mr Kejriwal, the Superintendent of Tihar’s jail number 2 said, “From a bare reading of the above rules, it is clear that your communication does not qualify in the permissible communication which can be sent outside the prison. Only private correspondence with a designated set of people, as defined above, is permissible. Therefore, your letter dated 06.08.2024 has not been sent to the addressee but has been filed.”

Undertrials are governed by legal provisions of the Delhi Prison Rules, which curtail their rights and privileges, the letter read. “It is surprising to note that the contents of the letter, which was handed over by you on August 6, were leaked to the media without any authority. This amounts to an abuse of privileges granted to you under the Delhi Prison Rules, 2018,” the letter added.

The jail superintendent advised Kejriwal “to desist from any such impermissible activity failing which I shall be constrained to invoke the provisions of Delhi Prison Rules, 2018, to curtail your privileges,” the letter added.

Mr Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21 in a case linked to the Delhi Excise scam. Although he got bail I that, he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

His purported letter to the LG and filed by the prison authorities has sparked a political row with the BJP leaders pouncing on him for continuing to hold the chief minister’s post despite been in the prison for the last four months. Taking a jibe at him, the BJP said the jailed chief minister should resign from his post and make Atishi the Delhi chief minister as according to the rules, only the chief minister is allowed to hoist the tricolour on Independence Day.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said the letter written by the incarcerated chief minister to the lieutenant governor regarding the flag hoisting on Independence Day “proves” that the Aam Aadmi Party and its leaders were “anarchists” and would remain “anarchists.”