Don’t keep doing ED, you’ll get into trouble, Supreme Court reprimands Bengal government and its lawyer in I-PAC raid case

New Delhi. During the hearing today in the case of ED raid on the premises of I-PAC in Kolkata, the Supreme Court once again reprimanded the West Bengal government. The Supreme Court questioned the Bengal government whether ED officers do not cease to be citizens of India just because they are ED officers. The court asked in a harsh tone whether the fundamental rights of ED officers are lost while they are on duty. Justice P.K. Mishra and N.V. Anjaria’s bench told Bengal government’s lawyer Kapil Sibal not to repeat the name of ED otherwise he will be in trouble.

It was argued by Bengal government counsel Kapil Sibal that the ED cannot file a petition under Article 32 when the means to approach the police is available. On this, the bench said that some ED officers have also personally filed petitions in the court. The court headed by Justice P.K. Mishra told the lawyer of the West Bengal government that if the Chief Minister interferes in the ED investigation, then in your opinion the solution for the ED is to go to the state government led by the Chief Minister and inform them about it and seek a solution?

On this, senior advocate Kapil Sibal said that the judge is assuming that the Chief Minister has committed a crime. In response to this, Justice Mishra said, we are not assuming anything. Every allegation is based on some facts, if there are no facts then there is no need for investigation. In the previous hearing, the Supreme Court had expressed displeasure over the conduct of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The bench had said that it was not appropriate for the Chief Minister to forcefully interfere during the raid.