E-Paper
14-hour questioning no heroic act by ED: HC on Cong candidate’s plea
Congress candidate Surender Panwar’s arrest was declared illegal by the high court on Monday and he was eventually released from custody on Wednesday
The Punjab and Haryana high court has advocated for necessary mechanism in place for investigating agencies against long questioning hours of the accused persons.
“...it would be appreciated if some necessary mechanism is put in place for fair investigation of the accused as per basic human rights laid down by the United Nations Organization (UNO), instead of meting out unnecessary harassment for such a long duration at one stretch for a given day,” the bench of justice Mahabir Singh Sindhu observed while dealing with a plea from Congress candidate for the forthcoming assembly polls and sitting MLA from Sonepat, Surender Panwar, who had challenged his July 20 arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
His arrest was declared illegal by the high court on Monday and he was eventually released from custody on Wednesday. Detailed judgment on the plea against the arrest, filed by him in August, was released on Wednesday.
The court’s observation came upon ED’s disclosure that when he appeared before the agency at Gurugram on July 19, 2024, at 11 am and was constantly interrogated uptill 1.40 am (July 20) for 14 hours and 40 minutes.
“..(the act of continuous questioning) is not heroic on the part of ED; rather it is against the dignity of a human being. For future, in view of the mandate under Article 21 of the Constitution, this court is observing that Directorate of Enforcement shall take remedial measures and sensitise the officers to follow some reasonable time limit for investigation in one go against the suspect(s) in such like cases,” the bench observed.
Arrest indefensible in law: HC
The bench of justice Mahabir Singh Sindhu, while holding that Panwar’s arrest and grounds of arrest was “indefensible in law”, added that prima facie, he had not been found involved in any illegal activity, in any manner whatsoever, attracting the offence of money laundering under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
It further added that foundation of case was illegal mining and rest of the allegations in all the nine FIRs were “peripheral”, relatable to illegal mining.
“While illegal mining is an offence under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, it is not classified as a scheduled offence under the PMLA, thus precluding prosecution on that basis,” it said also adding that Panwar was not named in the first eight FIRs and his name also does not figure in the ninth FIR.
