The Supreme Court has denied to entertain a batch of petitions which were submitted by political parties who had alleged the central investigating agencies like Directorate of Enforcement (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) being misused the Centre for clamping down and arresting the opposition leaders and other citizens critical of the current ruling dispensation.
The petitioners have argued that action against dissent and disagrement with the government is but a gross violation of the fundamental right of citizens.
A division bench comprising of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala said that they have no interest to entertain the petition.
The bench added that it cannot issue general directions without a factual context. The bench however said that it can intervene in an individual case only.
The bench added that the political leaders have no special privileges and cannot claim a higher immunity than ordinary citizens.
The Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi submitted before court the statistics for provingg that centrally controlled investigating agencies are been used in a very selective and targeted manner with an aim to completely crush political dissent and upend the fundamental premises of representative democracy.
The petitioners for arrest and remand,in petition asked for the triple test (determination as to whether a person is a flight risk, whether there is a reasonable apprehension of the tampering of evidence, or the influencing/intimidation of witnesses) by agencies and police for the arrest of persons in any cognizable offences except those involving serious bodily violence.
During the Court argument it was said that these conditions were not satisfied,it further added that the alternatives like interrogation at fixed hours or, at most, house arrest ought to be used to meet the demands of investigation.
Talking about bail, the petitioners said that the principle of ‘bail as rule, jail as exception’ should be strictly be followed by all courts throughout, especially in cases where non-violent offences are alleged, and that bail be denied only where the aforementioned triple-test is satisfied.
To emphasize the demands, the petition has highlighted that the action rate on raids i.e., complaints filed pursuant to raids has reduced from 93 per cent in 2005-2014 to 29 per cent in 2014-2022.
The petition was filed by Indian National Congress (INC), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Bharat Rasthra Samithi (BRS), All Indian Trinamool Congress (TMC), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Shiv Sena (UBT), JMM, JD(U), Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPI, Samajwadi Party, J&K National Conference.