In Brief
In this money-laundering case, Arvind Dham—a former chairman of Amtek Group—challenged his detention under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The Delhi High Court had refused bail despite no trial having commenced after 16 months of incarceration. The Supreme Court allowed his appeal and granted bail, holding that prolonged pretrial detention without commencement or reasonable progress of trial violates the constitutional right to speedy trial under Article 21, regardless of offence gravity. The Court emphasized that economic offences cannot be treated as a homogeneous class warranting blanket bail denial. Bail was granted with conditions including passport surrender and contact information.
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