It’s a law that was introduced to align with international norms on flushing out terror funding and arresting the movement of illicit money across borders. In line with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) created in 1989 for global coordination to stem money laundering, Parliament cleared the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in 2002 to tackle serious crimes like narcotics trade and terror financing. Subsequent PMLA iterations to meet FATF stipulations opened the entry point to deal with all sorts of crimes, as the lower cap of Rs 30 lakh in tainted assets to attract the law was dropped. By and by, the PMLA acquired fangs, especially after opposition-ruled states barred the automatic registration of cases by the CBI. To overcome these limitations, the Enforcement Directorate became the chosen agency and the PMLA the preferred statute.
All the ED needed to get into play was an FIR by local law enforcement authority anywhere in India. The ED could then register its own case under the PMLA and launch a parallel probe. That was how it went after the AAP in Delhi, the JMM in Jharkhand and the TMC in West Bengal. Getting bail under the PMLA is difficult, which is why the Sisodias continue to be in judicial custody for months. The problem got compounded after a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court upheld the ED’s powers under that law. That verdict is now under challenge.
Mercifully, another bench of the Supreme Court last week added a layer of protection under the PMLA, ruling that the ED can’t arrest an accused after a court takes cognisance of a complaint on money laundering against the individual and issues summons. The agency has to seek the court’s permission to do so, else it would go against the right to liberty. In the NewsClick case, a different bench of the Supreme Court declared the arrest of its founder Prabir Purkayastha under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act invalid based on a technicality - the failure of the probe agency to inform the accused or his counsel in writing about the grounds before his arrest.
All these are but incremental reliefs. The ideal solution would be to revisit the draconian laws to dismantle the scope of their rights abuse irrespective of the party in power. It’s all the more important as the new criminal laws would kick in from July 1.