'You've Been Successful In Keeping Accused In Jail Without Trial For Years' : Supreme Court Questions ED's Conviction Rate

The Supreme Court today (August 7) verbally expressed concerns over how the Enforcement Directorate has been 'successful' in sentencing the accused by keeping them as undertrials for years, even though they are not ultimately convicted. 

The bench of CJI BR Gavai and Justices SC Sharma and K Vinod Chandran was hearing the review against the Supreme Court's decision, which rejected the resolution plan of JSW Steel for Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd (BPSL) and directed the liquidation of BPSL. 

During the hearing, SG Tushar Mehta, who was appearing for the Committee of Creditors, mentioned how the ED has so far collected 23000 crores of amount, which has been distributed amongst the victims. The submission was made in the context of the ED cases against the promoters of the BPSL.

Replying to which, the CJI asked, "What is the conviction rate so far in ED matters?" 

The SG answered, "Conviction my lords, even in IPC, sometimes we wonder how this person is acquitted."

The CJI stated that even if the accused is not convicted in a case relating to the ED investigation, they end up as undertrials for years. He expressed : 

"Even if they are not convicted, you have been successful in sentencing them almost without a trial for years together." 

The SG emphasised instances where houses of Politicians are raided and excessive amounts of money are recovered, where ED's counting machines failed and needed replacements altogether. 

"In some of the cases where the politicians were raided, where the cash was found, our machines stopped functioning because of the huge cash - we had to bring new machines."

He added that a narrative is being created against the ED through media interviews and YouTube channels. 

"So we cannot build a narrative by giving press interviews and YouTube Channel discussions, mylord." 

The CJI asserted that the judges are not deciding matters under the influence of any so-called narrative building. He said :

"Again, we are repeating, we do not decide matters on the basis of any narrative, I never see.... I don't see the news on the TV channels, sometimes in the morning I only read the headlines." 

Quoting Oscar Wilde, the SG expressed that it was better not to read the news. He said :

"Oscar Wilde has said- If you do not read newspapers, you are uninformed, if you read newspapers, you are ill-informed - better not read." 

Recently, CJI Gavai had asked the ED why it was being used for political battles.

 Related Reports: 'Out Of 5000 PMLA Cases, Only 40 Convictions In 10 Years' : Supreme Court Says ED Must Focus On Quality Prosecution

6.42% Conviction Rate In Cases Filed By ED Since 2019 : Union Government Tells Parliament