New Delhi:
The PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) is being used repeatedly to keep people in jail, the Supreme Court said today. A bench pulling up the Enforcement Directorate, said the law is being misused like the dowry law.
The provisions of PMLA cannot be used to keep someone in jail forever, said the bench, granting bail to Arun Pati Tripathi, a former excise officer from Chhattisgarh.
Tripathi was accused of money laundering in the Chhattisgarh liquor scam case and was arrested in 2023.
But despite receiving bail in the current case, he will not be released as he faces another case filed by the Economic Offences Wing.
Lately, the Supreme Court has been critical of central agencies, pulling them up for keeping accused, including political leaders in jail interminably without evidence. Former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud had repeatedly spoken on bail and not jail being the norm.
While giving bail to AAP’s Sanjay Singh in the excise policy case, the top court had pointed out that “Nothing has been recovered… there is no trace (of money allegedly received by the AAP as bribes for allotting liquor licences to the ‘South Group’)”.
While granting bail to Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavithaa in the same case, the court had said it will keep an eye on “fairness and impartiality”.