The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: The Punjab and Haryana high court has reprimanded the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for its prolonged interrogation methods, labelling them “against the dignity of a human being”. Further, the court has instructed the agency to “follow some reasonable time limit for investigation”.
Justice Mahabir Singh Sindhu directed the ED to implement a fair investigation mechanism, ensuring respect for the right to life, liberty, and dignity as enshrined in Article 21 of the constitution.
“For future, in view of the mandate under Article 21 of the constitution, this court is observing that the 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 court mentioned in a detailed judgement released on Wednesday (September 25).
The court added:
“To be precise, it would be appreciated if some necessary mechanisms is put in place for fair investigation of the accused as per basic human rights laid down by the United Nations Organisation (UNO), instead of meeting out unnecessary harassment, for such a longer duration at one stretch for a given day.”
The court’s ruling came on Monday (September 23) in response to a petition filed by Congress MLA and the party’s Sonipat candidate, Surender Panwar, who was arrested by the ED in July in connection with an alleged illegal mining case. He was interrogated for 14 hours and 40 minutes by the agency which the court referred as “not heroic” on the part of the ED.
“As per the case of ED itself, petitioner was issued notice/summons under Section 50 of PMLA [Prevention of Money Laundering Act] and in pursuance thereof, he duly appeared in the Zonal Office of ED at Gurugram on 19.07.2024 at 11:00 a.m and he was constantly interrogated uptill 1:40 a.m (20.07.2024) 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,” the court order mentioned.
The court underlined that the ED had attempted to implicate Panwar based on his association with a company allegedly involved in illegal mining. However, the bench found no substantial evidence to support this claim and quashed the arrest of the Sonipat MLA and the remand orders from a special judge in Ambala, deeming them “indefensible in law,” The Indian Express reported.
Also read: ED Lodged 132 Money Laundering Cases Against Politicians Since 2019, Conviction in Only 1 Instance
Further, Justice Sindhu emphasised that the foundation of the case, “illegal mining,” is not a scheduled offence under the PMLA. The court also noted that the Environment Protection Act, 1986, was removed from the scheduled offences under PMLA through an amendment in 2023, Live Law reported.
Panwar claimed through his counsel that his arrest was politically motivated, aiming to influence the upcoming Haryana legislative assembly elections. Despite not being named in the original FIRs and lacking direct involvement in the alleged crimes, Panwar was taken into custody by the ED, his counsel mentioned.