Sharjeel Imam in, Arvind Dham out: Supreme Court's dichotomy on prolonged detention

Key Highlights

• Setting aside the August 19, 2025 order of the Delhi High Court denying bail, the Supreme Court observed, “Prolonged incarceration of an undertrial, without commencement or reasonable progress of trial, cannot be countenanced, as it has the effect of converting pretrial detention into a form of punishment.
• Economic offences, by their very nature, may differ in degree and fact, and therefore cannot be treated as a homogeneous class warranting a blanket denial of bail.”The court noted that Dham was arrested in 2024 and that the evidence in the case is primarily documentary and already in the custody of the prosecution.
• “The continued incarceration in such circumstances violates the right of the appellant to speedy trial under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” the bench said. Justice Alok Aradhe, who authored the verdict, said the right to speedy trial under Article 21 is not eclipsed by the nature of the offence.
• The bench also recorded that Dham had joined the investigation even before his arrest on June 19, July 2 and July 9, 2024, and had cooperated with the probe.“Out of 28 individuals, only the appellant has been arrested.
• The order dated August 20, 2025 of the Special Court records the submission of ED that investigation qua the appellant has concluded,” the court noted. The bench pointed out that no cognisance has yet been taken on the prosecution complaint and that the case is still at the stage of scrutiny of documents.