Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to list on April 5 pleas by 14 opposition parties against the alleged misuse of the law by Central agencies to arrest political opponents. The pleas have been filed by Congress, TMC, JMM, JD(U), BRS, RID, SP, Uddhav faction-led Shiv Sena, NC, NCP, CPI, CPM and the DMK.
The plea in which the parties have urged the court to lay down guidelines for law-enforcing agencies and courts on remand, arrest, and bail was mentioned by senior advocate AM Singhvi before the bench of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala.
Urging the bench to list the plea, Singhvi said that 95 per cent of cases belong to political leaders.“Around 95 per cent of cases are of opposition leaders. We’re asking for pre-arrest and post-arrest guidelines,” he said. Acceding to the senior counsel’s request, the CJI agreed to list them on April 5.
It has been argued in the plea that investigating agencies such as the CBI and the ED are being increasingly deployed in a targeted manner with a view to completely crushing political dissent and upending the fundamental premises of representative democracy.
Only 23 convictions under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) have been secured as of now, even as the number of cases registered by the ED under the PMLA have risen exponentially (from 209 in 2013-14 F.Y. to 981 in 2020-21, and 1,180 in 2021-22), said the plea. The plea also says that 72 political leaders between 2004 and 2014 have been investigated by the CBI. It further states that 43 (under-60 per cent) were from the Opposition.
“Now, this same figure has risen to over 95 per cent. The same pattern is reflected in the ED’s investigations as well, with the proportion of Opposition leaders from the total number of politicians investigated rising from 54 per cent before 2014) to 95 per cent (after 2014),” the plea states.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to list on April 5 pleas by 14 opposition parties against the alleged misuse of the law by Central agencies to arrest political opponents. The pleas have been filed by Congress, TMC, JMM, JD(U), BRS, RID, SP, Uddhav faction-led Shiv Sena, NC, NCP, CPI, CPM and the DMK.
The plea in which the parties have urged the court to lay down guidelines for law-enforcing agencies and courts on remand, arrest, and bail was mentioned by senior advocate AM Singhvi before the bench of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala.
Urging the bench to list the plea, Singhvi said that 95 per cent of cases belong to political leaders.“Around 95 per cent of cases are of opposition leaders. We’re asking for pre-arrest and post-arrest guidelines,” he said. Acceding to the senior counsel’s request, the CJI agreed to list them on April 5.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
It has been argued in the plea that investigating agencies such as the CBI and the ED are being increasingly deployed in a targeted manner with a view to completely crushing political dissent and upending the fundamental premises of representative democracy.
Only 23 convictions under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) have been secured as of now, even as the number of cases registered by the ED under the PMLA have risen exponentially (from 209 in 2013-14 F.Y. to 981 in 2020-21, and 1,180 in 2021-22), said the plea. The plea also says that 72 political leaders between 2004 and 2014 have been investigated by the CBI. It further states that 43 (under-60 per cent) were from the Opposition.
“Now, this same figure has risen to over 95 per cent. The same pattern is reflected in the ED’s investigations as well, with the proportion of Opposition leaders from the total number of politicians investigated rising from 54 per cent before 2014) to 95 per cent (after 2014),” the plea states.
