Supreme Court curtails Enforcement Directorate’s power to arrest an accused
The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) loses the authority to arrest an accused once a special court takes cognisance of a charge sheet filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), in a judgment that limits ED’s power to execute arrests and emphasises the inviolability of personal liberty.
“Once cognisance is taken of the offence punishable under Section 4 of the PMLA, the special court is seized of the matter. After the cognisance is taken, ED and other authorities named in Section 19 cannot exercise the power of arrest of the accused shown in the complaint,” held a bench of justices AS Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan.
A charge sheet is called a prosecution complaint under PMLA.
The judgment significantly curtails ED’s authority to arrest individuals not detained during the investigation phase under PMLA, noting that after the court takes cognisance of the agency’s complaint, the accused are under the jurisdiction of the court, rendering the agency “powerless”.
“In such a case, an apprehension that the ED will arrest such an accused by exercising powers under Section 19 can never exist,” it added.
The court added it cannot countenance a situation where before the filing of the complaint, the accused is not arrested but after the complaint is filed and the person appears in compliance with the summons of the trial court, he is taken into custody and is forced to apply for bail.