The Supreme Court On Wednesday refused to hear a petition filed by fourteen political parties claiming that the central government, headed by the BJP was misusing central agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against opposition party leaders.
A bench comprising of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala ruled that political leaders do not enjoy any immunity higher than ordinary citizens.
“Someone collects crores from ordinary pensioners, but no payment is made, so multiple FIRs are filed and the case comes here. Can we say that there will be no arrests here? How can we say there can be no arrests unless a three-pronged test is satisfied unless we accept that political leaders are absolutely on the same footing as common citizens with no higher immunity,” the bench demanded.
The Court further stated that the petitioners were attempting to persuade the Court to issue guidelines by extrapolating data.
The petitioners then requested permission to withdraw their plea, which the Court granted.
The petition was filed by Indian National Congress (INC), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Bharat Rasthra Samithi (BRS), All Indian Trinamool Congress (TMC), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Shiv Sena (UBT), JMM, JD(U), Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPI, Samajwadi Party, J&K National Conference.
The petitioners argued that there has been an alarming increase in the use of coercive criminal procedures against opposition political leaders and other citizens exercising their basic right to dissent and disagree with the central government.
It was submitted that investigating agencies such as the CBI and ED are increasingly being used in a selective and targeted way in order to completely crush political dissent and upend the fundamental premises of a representative democracy.
