On Monday, the Supreme Court granted bail to Bibhav Kumar, an aide to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in connection with the alleged assault case involving Member of Parliament Swati Maliwal.

A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan noted that Kumar had already been in custody for over 100 days and that the trial, which involves the examination of more than 51 witnesses, is expected to take some time.

"You cannot keep a person in jail for over 100 days when the injuries are simple. See the medical report. You have to balance both not oppose bail here," the Court told the Delhi Police during the hearing of Kumar's bail plea.

In July, the Court had issued a notice on Kumar's bail plea. During today's hearing, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju opposed the bail at this stage, arguing that additional witnesses should be examined before granting bail. However, the Court responded by stating that it would implement measures to prevent any influence on the witnesses.

"Till conclusion of trial, we are satisfied that interim protection can be granted along with conditions to prevent influencing of witnesses or evidence. Exercise of beneficiary jurisdiction of this court will amount to misuse of concession of bail and necessary conditions would thus be inevitable," it said in the order.

The Court imposed the following conditions:

• The petitioner shall not be reinstated as Personal Secretary to the Delhi Chief Minister or hold any political office related to the Chief Minister's Office.
• He is prohibited from entering the Chief Minister's residence until all witnesses have been examined.
• The prosecution must prioritize the examination of key and vulnerable private witnesses, with the trial court making an effort to complete this within three months.
• The political party associated with the petitioner is barred from making any comments on the case until the trial court resolves the matter.

As the hearing concluded, Justice Bhuyan directs Additional Solicitor General Raju not to refer to the accused undertrials as criminals. Kumar has been in custody since May 18 of this year, following the alleged incident involving MP Maliwal on May 13 at Chief Minister Kejriwal's official residence.

Maliwal, formerly associated with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), had come to meet Kejriwal while he was out on interim bail in the Delhi Excise Policy case. According to the criminal complaint, Kumar allegedly assaulted Maliwal, striking her in the chest, stomach, and pelvic area, and also threatened her with severe consequences if she reported the incident.

AAP has denied the allegations and subsequently removed Maliwal from its list of 'star campaigners' for the Lok Sabha elections. Videos that emerged on social media reportedly showed Maliwal arguing with security personnel and leaving the Chief Minister's residence. Kumar's bail plea had been rejected twice by a trial court—first on May 27 and again on June 7. The Delhi High Court also denied bail on July 12, citing concerns that Kumar, despite being only the Personal Secretary to the Chief Minister, might still exert significant influence and potentially affect witness testimonies.