A drunken case

On February 27, 2026, a special court in Delhi delivered what may well be remembered as a watershed moment in India’s political and judicial history. In a sweeping order, the court discharged Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia, and 21 others in the so called Delhi liquor policy case. What was once touted as “Liquorgate” has now been exposed as a hollow edifice-an investigation built on hearsay, procedural lapses, and political vendetta. The case, which revolved around Delhi’s 2021–22 excise policy, alleged corruption in granting licenses, waiving fees, and extending undue favours to private firms. For years, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) pursued AAP leaders, arresting prominent figures and parading accusations of kickbacks worth crores. Yet, the court’s 598 page order laid bare the absence of material evidence, describing the probe as “premeditated and choreographed.” A departmental inquiry has now been ordered against the investigating officer who framed charges without substantiation. For Kejriwal and his colleagues, the verdict is vindication after years of political persecution. He wasted no time in calling it the “biggest political conspiracy in Independent India,” directly accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of weaponizing investigative agencies to cripple a rising political force. The AAP, born out of the 2011 anti corruption movement, stunned the nation by capturing Delhi’s reins in 2013 and consolidating power in 2015 and 2020. However, the liquor scam narrative, amplified relentlessly by pro government media, became the BJP’s most potent tool to tarnish AAP’s credibility. By 2025, the party’s strength in the Delhi Assembly had shrunk to just 22 seats. The saga is not merely about one party’s survival. It is about the dangerous precedent of using state machinery to engineer political outcomes. The inclusion of high profile names like Kavitha Rao, daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, underscores how wide the net was cast to create a spectacle of corruption. The court’s dismissal of the case as a façade exposes the fragility of institutions when bent to partisan will. India’s democracy cannot afford such orchestrated witch hunts. When investigative agencies become instruments of political strategy rather than guardians of justice, the rule of law itself is imperiled. The judiciary has, in this instance, acted as a bulwark against abuse. However, the larger question remains- how many more such cases will be manufactured, and how many lives and reputations will be destroyed before truth prevails?It is imperative that the Supreme Court now steps in to establish oversight mechanisms for politically sensitive probes. Judicial monitoring of investigations-whether ordered by the government or initiated independently-must become the norm. Without such safeguards, the bureaucracy will remain vulnerable to manipulation, and citizens will lose faith in the impartiality of justice. The Delhi liquor scam, once brandished as proof of endemic corruption, now stands revealed as a blot on India’s political history. It is a reminder that unchecked power corrodes institutions and that democracy demands vigilance not just at the ballot box but in the daily functioning of governance. If the rule of law is to mean anything, it must protect citizens from the law being twisted into a weapon.