GUWAHATI: The Supreme Court expressed its concerns regarding the alarmingly low conviction rate in cases filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Monday, November 18. Justice Abhay S. Oka, who headed the bench alongside Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, questioned the Enforcement Directorate's counsel, asking, "Someday, you must find out how many complaints under PMLA have ended in trial and how many have resulted in conviction."
ALSO READ: R G Kar Case: NTF tells SC State Laws Sufficient To Protect Healthcare Professionals
This remark was made while the bench was hearing a bail application for an individual accused of PMLA offences. The court granted the accused bail, noting that he had been in custody since February 23, 2023 and that there seemed to be no immediate prospect of the trial commencing. The bench relied on the precedent set in the Senthil Balaji case in making its decision.
The Court's concerns over the low conviction rate in PMLA cases are not new. Earlier in August, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan had remarked that only 40 convictions had been secured out of 5,000 PMLA complaints over the past decade. Additionally, in a judgement related to Arvind Kejriwal's case, the Court had highlighted that the data on PMLA complaints and arrests "raised a number of questions" and called for the formulation of a uniform policy on arrests.