Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take all steps to direct the unconditional release of former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, lodged in Tihar jail over alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.
Reminding that misuse of investigating agencies and constitutional offices including that of the Governor's office could never strengthen the vibrant democracy in India, Stalin said the day of Sisodia's arrest and "terrorising the due process of law will be remembered as the black day in the BJP regime at the Centre."
The senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader is lodged in Tihar jail after a CBI court on Monday remanded him to 14-day judicial custody. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday questioned him inside the prison as part of its money laundering probe.
"I hope that you will agree that different ideologies and several political parties are the heartbeat of Indian democracy," Stalin said in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, a copy of which was made available to the media here. In the same stretch, the rule of law and personal liberty are the cornerstones of our criminal justice system, he said.
"While it is so, I am saddened and disappointed to note that Thiru Manish Sisodia, the elected Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi has been arrested on trumped up allegations and made to undergo all pain and pressure depriving the constitutional guarantee of personal liberty," Stalin said.
All the canons of the criminal justice system have been thrown to the winds and the due process of law has been abused just for personal satisfaction of a ruling party at the Centre, the Chief Minister alleged in the letter.
He further said that in the last 9 years, the independence of investigating agencies have been robbed wherever the interest of the party in power at the Centre was involved. These agencies have been misused mercilessly and repeatedly as a weapon of political vendetta only against the political leaders of opposition parties. "Adulterated allegations bereft of facts have become the tool for such blatant misuse of power," he said.
Atrocities such as raids on the leaders of the opposition parties, unseating of the elected governments by abusing the anti-defection law and unleashing the investigating agencies arrogantly to arrest opposition leaders or leaders of discomfort for the BJP are not only just misuse of power but they also remind the days of Emergency, the DMK president said.
"I therefore appeal to you to take all steps to uphold the residual reputation of the premier investigating agencies and Constitutional offices during the last nine years of BJP rule, especially the office of the Governor and direct the release of Manish Sisodia unconditionally, who has been arrested by demeaning the due process of law and fundamental principles of our seven decades old Constitution," the Chief Minister said.
Chennai, March 7 (PTI)