New York: The United Nations reacted to the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s and upcoming Lok Sabha elections in India. Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern over the condition in India.
‘What we very much hope that in India, as in any country that is having elections, that everyone’s rights are protected, including political and civil rights, and everyone can vote in an atmosphere that is free and fair,’ said Stephane Dujarric at a press conference.
Earlier the United States of America expressed its concern over Arvind Kejriwal’sby Enforcement Directorate (ED) and freezing of the Congress party’s bank accounts by Income Tax Department. ‘We continue to follow these actions closely, including the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. We are also aware of the Congress party’s allegations that tax authorities have frozen some of their bank accounts in a manner that will make it challenging to effectively campaign in the upcoming elections. And we encourage fair, transparent and timely legal processes for each of these issues,’ the US State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said.
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On last Friday, Sebastian Fischer, spokesperson for Germany’s foreign office, had said: ‘We assume and expect that the standards relating to independence of judiciary and basic democratic principles will also be applied in this case.’
But, the External Affairs Ministry has strongly objected to comments from both the countries. India on Wednesday summoned Gloria Berbena, who heads the public affairs section at the US Embassy to protest remarks on Delhi CM’s arrest. Earlier the External Affairs Ministry summoned German deputy chief of mission, Georg Enzweiler to lodge protest against the German Foreign Ministry’s remarks on Kejriwal’s arrest.
‘India’s legal processes are based on an independent judiciary which is committed to objective and timely outcomes. Casting aspersions on that is unwarranted,” the MEA had said. The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Kejriwal in a money laundering case linked to the excise policy ‘scam,’ said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a statement.
The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Kejriwal in a money laundering case linked to the excise policy ‘scam’.The case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 which was later scrapped.
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