New Delhi: A day after Germany expressed its expectation for standards of judicial independence to be upheld in the arrest of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Saturday (March 23) summoned a senior German diplomat and lodged a “strong protest”, citing interference in India’s legal proceedings.
In a press release, the MEA said on Saturday that the German deputy chief of mission in New Delhi was “summoned today” and that it “conveyed India’s strong protest on their Foreign Office Spokesperson’s comments on our internal affairs”.
The MEAs’ summons only called for the attendance of the second-highest ranking diplomat in the German embassy and not the ambassador, who is in town.
Yesterday, Sebastian Fischer, a spokesperson for Germany’s foreign ministry, responded to a query regarding the German federal government’s evaluation of Kejriwal’s arrest.
“We have taken note of the case. India is a democratic country. We assume and expect that the standards relating to the independence of the judiciary and fundamental democratic principles will also apply in this case,” Fischer said, as per the transcript of the media briefing.
He also underlined that Kejriwal is “entitled to a fair, unbiased trial”, which he said “includes the right to make use of all existing legal remedies without restriction”.
“The presumption of innocence is a central element of the rule of law and must apply to it [Kejriwal’s case],” Fischer stressed.
The Indian MEA responded that it perceives “such remarks as interfering in our judicial process and undermining the independence of our judiciary”.
“India is a vibrant and robust democracy with rule of law. As in all legal cases in the country, and elsewhere in the democratic world, law will take its own course in the instant matter. Biased assumptions made on this account are most unwarranted,” said the MEA’s statement.
The arrest of Kejriwal, who is also head of the Aam Admi Party (AAP), took place just ahead of voting for the parliamentary elections next month.
His AAP government in Delhi is accused of granting liquor licenses to certain traders in exchange for bribes under a now-scrapped liquor policy first implemented in 2021.
Delhi’s deputy chief minister, Manish Sisodia, has been jailed in the case since February last year.
The AAP has denied the charges as being politically motivated.
In July 2022, Germany had also expressed concern on the arrest of fact-checking journalist Mohammed Zubair, noting that “journalists should not be persecuted and imprisoned for what they say and write”.
India had responded sharply that “uninformed comments are not helpful”.
A few months later, in October 2022, German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock had said that Germany supported the active role of the United Nations in resolving the Kashmir issue, which led the MEA to implicitly criticise Berlin.
When Angela Merkel visited India as German chancellor in November 2019, she had also spoken critically about the situation in Kashmir as there were ongoing internet and mobile lockdowns following the change in the constitutional status of the province.
