Our Bureau
Washington, DC
The US is closely following reports of the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and encourages a fair legal process, a State Department spokesperson said.
According to Reuters, a spokesperson for the US Department of State told the publication in an email response, “We encourage a fair, transparent, and timely legal process for Chief Minister Kejriwal.”
Kejriwal, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in the excise policy-linked money laundering case that his party rejects, barely a month before Lok Sabha elections.
Earlier asked about the arrest at a government press conference, Sebastian Fischer, spokesperson for Germany’s foreign office said that like anyone else facing accusations, Kejriwal was entitled to a fair and impartial trial. We assume and expect that the standards relating to independence of judiciary and basic democratic principles will also be applied in this case,” he had said.
New Delhi summoned the German embassy’s deputy chief of mission, Georg Enzweiler, “and conveyed India’s strong protest,” at the remarks, India’s foreign ministry said on Saturday. “We see such remarks as interfering in our judicial process and undermining the independence of our judiciary,” it said in a statement. “Biased assumptions made on this account are most unwarranted.”
The Enforcement Directorate took Mr Kejriwal into custody last week – in dramatic circumstances after a Delhi court refused protection from arrest – following a late-night raid at his residence. He was sent to custody of the central agency for seven days; i.e., till Thursday. Mr Kejriwal was arrested in connection with the alleged liquor policy scam that has roiled the AAP, and the national political landscape, less than a month before the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
