Don’t be ‘vindictive’: SC raps ED, says grounds of arrest in writing must
Laying down norms to be applicable for the entire country, the judges said a copy of the grounds of arrest must be furnished to the accused at time of arrest
In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court has ordered the Enforcement Directorate (ED) not to be "vindictive" in its functioning and to provide in writing the grounds while arresting suspects.
“It speaks volumes about the ED and reflects poorly on their style of functioning, especially since the agency is charged with preserving the financial security of the country,” justices AS Bopanna and Sanjay Kumar said on Tuesday (October 3).
They were hearing a petition filed by two arrested directors of real estate group M3M in an alleged money-laundering case.
The judges noted that Pankaj and Basant Bansal were summoned on June 14 for questioning and were arrested in another case registered by the ED on the same day.
The Bansals challenged their arrest under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to be illegal and questioned the order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court which refused to set aside their arrest.
ED faces music
Directing their immediate release, the top court took serious exception to an ED officer orally reading out the grounds of arrest to the accused without supplying them with a written copy.
Coming down heavily on the agency, the Bench said: “The ED has to be transparent, above board and conform to pristine standards of fairness and probity and not be vindictive in its stand.”
The apex court also noted the lack of any consistent or uniform practice followed by ED for supply of grounds of arrest to accused.
Laying down norms to be applicable for the entire country, the judges said: “We hold that it will be necessary for a copy of grounds of arrest to be furnished to the accused at the time of arrest.”
In the absence of written grounds of arrest, it will boil down to the word of ED against that of the accused as it happened in the present case, it said.
Bribery charge
The Bansals are also accused of bribing a trial court judge — who has since been suspended — to secure favourable orders.
The ED accused the Bansals of diverting over Rs 400 crore through several shell companies.
The ED defended its action by claiming that the charges were serious and the accused were not cooperating.
Earlier, in July, the petitioners argued that vast powers given to the ED under the money-laundering law was leading to arbitrary arrests.
