'First tea of independent morning': Manish Sisodia day after release from jail

New Delhi: A day after being released from Tihar Jail on bail, senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia shared a picture of having morning tea with his wife, captioning it the "first tea of an independent morning... after 17 months".

This is his first post on X after being granted bail on Friday by the Supreme Court, which sharply rebuked the courts below saying his long incarceration without trial had deprived him of the right to speedy justice.

The senior AAP leader walked out of Tihar Jail after 17 months behind bars on Friday and said he got bail due to the power of the Constitution and democracy, and this same power will ensure the release of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Sisodia on Saturday shared a morning selfie with his wife holding a cup of tea.

"First tea of an independent morning... After 17 months. The freedom that the Constitution has given to all of us Indians as a guarantee of the right to live.

"The freedom that God has given us to breathe in the open air with everyone," he said on X in Hindi.

The photo that was shared by the AAP leader now has over 203K views and 1.3K comments.

While some users responded in support of Sisodia, several others criticised him online.

"The trial of the case is going to happen very soon and you will again get jail tea, till then drink the green, blue and yellow tea of ​​freedom" a user wrote while another said: "Are you not even ashamed of what crime you had been jailed for".

Meanwhile, several social media users congratulated the leader and sent best wishes his way, as one wrote: "Congratulations on your Independence, Manish Ji. Now bring Kejriwal out too."

The Delhi CM is currently lodged in Tihar jail in connection with the same excise policy case registered by the CBI.

Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 26 last year for purported irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested him in the money laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9 last year. He resigned from the Delhi cabinet on February 28 in 2023.

Sisodia had sought bail contending that he has been in custody for 17 months and the trial against him has not yet started. The ED and the CBI had opposed his bail pleas.

(With PTI inputs)