Two judge bench of Supreme Court comes down heavily on ED while granting bail to incarcerated TN minister in cash for jobs scam

Though several leaders of AAP who were incarcerated in Tihar jail like Delhi’s then CM Arvind Kejrival, former deputy CM Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Kavitha, MLC, CM Jharkhand Hemant Soren etc are out on bail after being in prison for several months on stringent PMLA charges related to alleged liquor scam linked with the Delhi government ‘s new excise policy , now scrapped and a land scam of Ranchi etc but the former health minister Satyendra Jain is still inside Tihar prison for more than two years.

There have been several accusations against the ruling party by the vocal opposition leaders before the general elections , even now that the opposition leaders of various political parties are allegedly being selectively put behind bars for speaking against the ruling political dispensation by misusing the two investigative agencies CBI and ED under non bailable PMLA charges.

Infact the newspapers had been ful of banner news in this regard with anchors of electronics channels also shouting in full voice about these scams.

However, the supreme court’s two judge bench comprising of Justices A.S.Oka and A.G.Masih has while granting bail to an incarcerated minister of Tamilnadu namely V.Senthil Balaji since June 2023 on money laundering charges under PMLA in a cash for jobs scandal while coming down heavily on the Enforcement Directorate blaming them for keeping individuals in jail for protracted time without the trial leading to its logical conclusion.

The two judge bench being highly critical of ED and other premier investigating agencies though not naming CBI catagorically wrote in their judgement while granting bail : The constitution courts cannot allow provisions like 45(1) (ii) to become an instruments in the hands of the ED to continue to incarcerate undertrials for the protracted time when there is no possibility of trial concluding within a reasonable time further saying that under PMLA Section 45 prescribes a high threshold requiring courts to conclude that the accused is not guilty of the offence and is not likely to commit the offence while on bail.

While showing annoyance for the ED the two judge bench of SC Justice OKA and justice Masih also mentioned that the stringent sections / provisions of the PMLA must not serve as an instruments to arbitrarily detain or express deepest anguish over the prolonged detention on individuals in cases involving stringent penal laws.

According to the HT report the ruling of the Supreme court comes at a time when two special benches of the Supreme Court are yet to hold an effective hearing in petitions challenging the validity of the stringent PMLA provisions particularly to summon, search , arrest and seizure and create terror in the minds if individuals and their families. Thursday’s judgement written by learned justice OKA was in a way a straight warning to ED and other agencies also reflecting growing judicial concern that the statute could be weaponised in a way that strictly violates fundamental rights in the Article 21 of the Constitution which guarantees right to life and personal liberty.