Supreme Court on Wednesday held that the principle of "bail is the rule and jail is the exception" applied even to money laundering cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). 

The top court's decision came as it granted bail to Prem Prakash, an alleged aide of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in a money laundering case while setting aside the judgment of the High Court. 

The Supreme Court said it relied on its judgment in Manish Sisodia's case where the AAP leader was granted bail in the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam.

"Relying on the judgment in Manish Sisodia, we have said that even in PMLA, bail is a rule and jail the exception. Liberty of the individual is always the rule and deprivation, by a procedure established by law, the exception," a bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan said. 

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The Supreme Court also said that confessions by an accused, booked under PMLA, to an investigating officer would not ordinarily be admissible as evidence. It said the bar against such confessions under Section 25 of Bhartiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (previously Indian Evidence Act) would be applicable. 

"We hold statements of the appellant, if found to be incriminating, will be hit by Section 25. It would be a travesty to make the statement admissible merely because he was then under custody for another ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report). It will be extremely unfair to make such statements admissible as it would be against all canons of justice," the court said. 

While granting bail to Prem Prakash, the top court took into account his long incarceration and the delay in trial due to a large number of witnesses. The bench also held that Prakash was not prima facie guilty of the offenses and was unlikely to tamper with evidence. 

The court, therefore, granted bail to Prakash while imposing a bail bond of Rs 5 lakh