Supreme Court to Consider Opposition Petition Alleging Misuse of CBI and ED

On Friday, the Supreme Court of India agreed to hear a plea by 14 opposition parties, led by the Congress, alleging arbitrary use of central probe agencies against political opponents. The plea will be heard on April 5th by a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud. Senior advocate AM Singhvi, appearing for the opposition parties such as the DMK, RJD, Bharat Rashtra Samiti, Trinamool Congress, NCP, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, JD(U), CPI(M), Communist Party of India, Samajwadi Party and J&K National Conference, requested guidelines for future cases. Singhvi stated that the plea is a remarkable convergence of 14 parties against the misuse of the agencies, both CBI and ED. He also referred to the rise in the number of cases filed by CBI and ED after the NDA government came to power and requested pre-arrest guidelines and post-arrest bail guidelines. Singhvi added that 95% of CBI and ED cases are against opposition leaders and that the rate of conviction is only four to five percent.