'Misuse' Of Probe Agencies: Supreme Court Refuses To Entertain Plea Of 14 Oppn Parties
The Opposition parties withdrew their plea from the Supreme Court after the top court refused to entertain the plea.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a plea filed by 14 Opposition parties, led by the Congress, alleging "arbitrary use" of central probe agencies like Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against political opponents.
The Opposition parties withdrew their plea from the Supreme Court after the top court refused to entertain the plea.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said that political leaders do not enjoy any immunity higher than common citizens.
The court said laying down general guidelines were not possible without facts of particular case. "Can't make separate guidelines for politicians," the Supreme Court said.
"So someone collects crores from common pensioners, no payment made and so multiple FIRs are filed...and the case comes here. Can we say that there can be no arrest here? Once we accept that political leaders are absolutely on same footing as common citizens with no higher immunity...then how can we say there can be no arrests unless there is a three pronged test which is satisfied," the top court said.
During the hearing, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi said from 2013-14 to 2021-22, there was a 600 per cent increase in CBI and ED cases. He said 121 political leaders were probed by ED, of which 95 per cent were from the opposition parties.
For the CBI, out of 124 investigations, over 95 per cent are from opposition parties, Singhvi claimed. "This has a chilling effect on the legitimacy of political opposition," Singhvi told the Supreme Court.
The SC said that the petitioners were trying to get the court to frame guidelines by extrapolating statistics. "You are trying to extrapolate the statistics into solid legal guidelines. So now these statistics only relates to the politicians," CJI Chandrachud said.
The petition by the Opposition parties was filed last month by senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, who referred to the rise in the number of cases filed by the CBI and ED after the Narendra Modi-led government came to power in 2014.
The petition cited that 95 per cent cases of CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) were against the leaders of opposition parties, PTI reported.
"I am asking for the guidelines for the future. This is a remarkable convergence of 14 parties against the misuse of the agencies, both CBI and ED," Singhvi had said.
"Second statistics, pre-2014 and post-2014: there is a humongous jump in cases. The rate of conviction is four to five per cent. We are asking for pre-arrest guidelines and post-arrest bail guidelines," Singhvi further said.
The plea also flagged an alarming rise in the use of coercive criminal processes against political opponents exercising their fundamental right to dissent, PTI reported.
"Investigating agencies such as CBI and ED are being increasingly deployed in a selective and targeted manner with a view to completely crush political dissent and upend the fundamental premises of a representative democracy," a statement issued on behalf of a petitioner alleged.
Besides the Congress, the parties that are signatories to the joint petition are DMK, RJD, BRS, Trinamool Congress, AAP, NCP, Shiv Sena (UBT), JMM, JD(U), CPI(M), CPI, Samajwadi Party and the J&K National Conference.
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