NEW DELHI: Taking note of Enforcement Directorate's "high handedness" and "inhuman conduct" in interrogating a person for almost 15 hours which went beyond midnight, Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up ED and expressed concern over the agency's approach in conducting probe.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih said the agency was virtually forcing a person to make a statement and it was a "shocking state of affairs". It upheld quashing of arrest of former Haryana Congress MLA Surender Panwar by ED in a money laundering case related to illegal mining.
ED had arrested Panwar in July at 1.40am after interrogating him for around 15 hours but his arrest was quashed by Punjab and Haryana high court in Sept and the agency moved the apex court against the high court order.
Appearing for ED, advocate Zoheb Hossain said high court had wrongly recorded in its order that Panwar was quizzed for 14 hours and 40 minutes non-stop and added that he was given dinner break during interrogation. Hossain said the agency had already taken steps to streamline the process and to ensure that people were not interrogated during the wee hours.
Rejecting ED's contention, the bench asked how the agency could torture a person by interrogating him for such a long period without a break. However, the court made it clear that observations made by high court and itself were only on the issue of grant of bail and not on the merits of the case.
In its order, high court had noted that as per ED's case, the petitioner was issued notice/summons and "he duly appeared in the zonal office of ED at Gurgaon at 11am and he was constantly interrogated up till 1.40am (July 20) for 14 hours and 40 minutes, which 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, this court is observing that ED shall take remedial measures and sensitise officers to follow some reasonable time limit for investigation in one go against suspect(s) in such cases. To be precise, 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 United Nations, instead of meting out unnecessary harassment for such a longer duration at one stretch for a given day," high court had said.
Echoing HC's sentiments, the SC bench said it was "inhuman conduct" on part of ED officers. The court said it was not a case related to terrorist activity but an illegal sand mining case and "this is not the way to treat people in such a case". "You are forcing a person to make a statement," it added.
The bench upheld the high court order which said Panwar's initial arrest as well as grounds of arrest were unsustainable in law and there was no material with the ED to substantiate that the politician directly or indirectly indulged in any process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime.
In a remedial measure, ED recently issued a circular directing its officers not to quiz people at late hours or keep them waiting long at its office.
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