14 political parties including Congress have not got relief from the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has refused to hear the petition on the misuse of ED and CBI.
The SC said that special immunity cannot be given to politicians. Leaders also have rights like Common citizens. If general guidelines are issued then it will be a dangerous proposal. There cannot be a separate guideline on the arrest of leaders. The petition has been withdrawn.
CJI said that we will not hear this petition. You can withdraw the petition if you want. This is difficult for the court. That’s why the parties withdrew the petition. The CJI said that this is not a petition filed by the affected people. These 14 political parties have filed.
The CJI said that the rate of conviction is low in the country anyway.
Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that we are not saying that. We have not come to interfere in the ongoing investigation. We want guidelines.
CJI said can we quash the charges on this basis? You give us some figures. After all a political leader is basically a citizen. As citizens we are all subject to the same law. Singhvi said that we 14 parties together represent 45.19% of the votes cast in the last state/union territory assembly elections. 42.5% of the votes were polled in the 2019 General Elections and we are in power in 11 States/UTs.
CJI said that political leaders also have no immunity, they are also under the rights of common citizens. How can we issue this order not to arrest without triple test. There is already a provision in CRPC. You are asking for guidelines, but this will be for all citizens. Political leaders do not have any high immunity. Can we say in general case that if there is no possibility of running away from investigation / violation of other conditions, then no person should be arrested.
If we cannot say this in other cases, then how can we say in the case of politicians. Politicians do not have any special rights. They also have the same rights as the common man.
The CJI said that it appears from your petition that opposition leaders are being targeted, but in the debate you are saying that the leaders should be saved from arrest. This is not a case of murder or sexual assault. How can we issue orders like this? The moment you say democracy, it is essentially a plea for politicians..
The CJI further said that you can come to us in cases where the agencies have not followed the law. It is not possible for us to issue guidelines like this. We have issued a guideline regarding bail etc., but it was issued on the basis of all the facts. How can we issue such a guideline. If a person brings his case, we decide according to the law.
Let us tell you that 14 political parties had accused the opposition leaders of arbitrarily using the central investigative agencies CBI and ED. In the petition, a demand was made to issue guidelines for the future regarding the investigating agencies.
Along with this, questions were also raised on ED, CBI. Opposition parties have been continuously protesting against the central investigative agencies. Questions have been raised about his impartiality. Political parties have said in the petition that the central government is misusing the investigative agencies. Political opponents are being arrested. Therefore, guidelines on arrest and remand should be made for the investigating agencies and courts. Fourteen political parties led by the Congress approached the Supreme Court by filing a joint petition against the arbitrary use of the ED and the CBI in arresting opposition leaders. Political parties include DMK, Rashtriya Janata Dal,
In their petition, these political parties had argued that between 2004 and 2014, the rate of filing complaints and taking action accordingly was 93%, while between 2014 and 22, it has reduced to just 29%.
In these last 8 years, only 23 cases of conviction came after registering a case under the PMLA i.e. Prevention of Money Laundering Act, after raids, arrests etc., whereas in 2013-14 there were 209, in 2020-21 981 and in 2021-22 1180 cases were registered in 2016, that is, the graph of registration of cases has increased and that of conviction has decreased. It is clear from this that the intention of the government is not to punish but to harass political opponents.
According to the records- In the ten years between 2004 and 14, cases were registered by the CBI against 72 leaders. Of these, less than 60 percent i.e. 43 belonged to the opposition. Now this rate has become 95 percent. The trend is the same in ED cases as well.
Before 2014, the proportion of opposition leaders caught by the ED was 54 per cent, but after 2014 it suddenly increased to 95 per cent. Petitioner 14 political parties say that democracy in the country is in danger due to this attitude of the central government. We are not trying to influence the ongoing investigation 14 parties who have filed petition in Supreme Court
1. Congress
2. Trinamool Congress
3. Aam Aadmi Party
4. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha
5. Janata Dal United
6. Bharat National Committee
7. Rashtriya Janata Dal
8. Samajwadi Party
9. Shiv Sena (Uddhav)
10. National Conference
11. Nationalist Congress Party
12. CPI
13. CPM 14. DMK
They say that in the last assembly elections, these parties got 45.19 percent public support.
They also have governments in 11 states. They have appealed to the court that the criminal records of those who have been made accused, according to the sentence – the status of the accused should also be kept in mind. It should be seen that the accused should not be involved in murder, attempt to murder i.e. murderous attack, rape or terrorism charges or activities.
