New Delhi, March 24.
Fourteen political parties led by the Indian National Congress on Friday approached the Supreme Court against arbitrary arrests of Opposition leaders by the ED and the CBI. This plea was mentioned by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
The parties include the likes of the DMK, the Trinamool, BRS, the RJD, the NCP, the AAP, the Shiv Sena, the JMM, the JD (U), CPI, the JK National Conference and Samajwadi Party, among others.
Singhvi told a bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud that the parties represented 42 per cent of the political spectrum and were raising the issue of arbitrary arrests of Opposition leaders which is putting “democracy in peril”.
Ninety-five per cent of the cases filed by the ED involve Opposition leaders, Singhvi said. “We are asking for both pre-arrest and post-arrest guidelines,” he said. This would include guidelines on arrest, remand and bail.
“We are not trying to affect existing investigations,” he argued. The bench listed the case for further hearing on April 5. Opposition leaders have already written to the Prime Minister against this.
Manish Sisodia of the AAP was recently arrested in connection with the excise scam. Several Trinamool leaders have also been arrested.
An Indian Express article estimated that there had been a four-fold jump in cases filed by the ED and CBI since 2014, 95 per cent of them against the Opposition, in an article on the misuse of central agencies to harass political opponents.