New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday (November 26) expressed concerns about keeping an accused in custody for a long period without trial and also flagged low conviction rates in cases pursued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan made the observations while hearing a petition filed by former West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee in a money laundering case, reported LiveLaw.
Representing Chatterjee, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi said that the former minister is in custody for over 2.5 years since his arrest on July 23, 2022. He also highlighted that the petitioner is 73 years old and that there was no chance of an early completion of trial, given that there are 183 witnesses and four supplementary prosecution complaints.
Rohatgi also said that Chatterjee has already undergone more than 1/3rd of the maximum punishment under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, which is 7 years imprisonment.
“If ultimately he is not convicted, what will happen? Waiting for 2.5-3 years is not a small period! What is your conviction rate? If it is 60-70%, we can understand. But it is very poor,” Justice Bhuyan asked Additional Solicitor General SV Raju who was representing the ED.
ASG said that the matter has to be seen on a case-to-case basis.
The court will next take up the matter next week.
