The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition by the Centre seeking a review of a judgement it passed in October stating that the Enforcement Directorate has to furnish the grounds of arrest in writing to accused persons at the time of their arrest.
“We have carefully gone through the review petitions and the connected papers,” a bench of Justices AS Bopanna and Sanjay Kumar said on March 20. “We do not find any error, much less apparent, in the order impugned, warranting its reconsideration.”
On October 3, the court held that those arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act have a constitutional and statutory right to be informed about the grounds of their arrest. It said that it was essential for accused persons to know about the reasons for their arrest, as they would later need to meet stringent conditions for bail under Section 45 of the Act.
The Supreme Court passed the judgement while hearing the case of Pankaj Bansal and Basant Bansal, directors of real estate firm M3M who were accused of involvement in a money-laundering case. They had challenged an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court which refused to set aside their arrest.
The Supreme Court on October 3 allowed their appeals and ordered them to be released.
The bench said that if the grounds of arrest are only read out verbally to the accused persons and this fact is later disputed, the case may boil down to the word of the arrested person against that of the agency’s officer.
It further observed that if sensitive information is part of the grounds of arrest, it can always be redacted and an edited copy can be made available to the accused person.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!