ED must give grounds of arrest in writing to accused at time of arrest: SC
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday emphasised that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is “not expected to be vindictive in its conduct” and ruled that the agency must furnish the grounds of arrest in writing to the accused at the time of arrest, instead of just verbal information.
“We hold that it will be necessary, henceforth, that a copy of grounds of arrest is furnished to the arrested person as a matter of course and without exception,” the bench of Justices A S Bopanna and PV Sanjay Kumar ordered while directing that the agency act fairly and in a transparent manner.
The judgement came on a plea by Pankaj Bansal and Basant Bansal, Directors of M3M real estate group, who had challenged an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which declined to set aside their arrest by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
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The judgment is in contrast to a previous ruling that denied accused persons a copy of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR).
The apex court came down heavily on ED for its approach taken in the case and stated that the agency’s conduct "reeks of arbitrariness", as the grounds of arrest were not furnished to the accused in written form.
"This chronology of events speaks volumes and reflects rather poorly, if not negatively, on the ED’s style of functioning", the court observed.
Declaring the arrest to be "illegal”, the bench ordered the immediate release of the accused.
