ED circular says efforts to be made to record statements during office hours, Bombay High Court informed

The paragraph titled, ‘Timing of recording of statement’, states that the authorised officer while fixing the date and time of the compliance of the summons, should ensure that the person summoned is taken up for examination on appointed time and date without being made to wait for hours.

A division bench of Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan directed the ED to put up this paragraph of its technical circular on its website as well as on its X handle immediately.

The paragraph submitted to the Court by Special Public Prosecutor Hiten Venegavkar further states that the authorised officer shall be well prepared with copies of documents to be confronted as well as a questionnaire to examine the person. It said that in cases of money laundering where it is possible for a person to destroy digital evidence or transfer or conceal proceeds of crime within the shortest period of time, the investigating officer should endeavor to conclude the examination of the person summoned ideally on the same day or the following day. In cases where senior citizens or those who are sick or infirm are summoned, the examination should be restricted to earthly hours and it would be appropriate to adjourn the examination to the next date or any mutually agreed date, the circular states.

It adds that only in exceptional cases where the authorised officer has credible information that the person summoned may destroy evidence or may abscond or not join the investigation, the statement may be recorded beyond earthly hours, with reasons recorded and approval taken of deputy/joint/additional director.

In April, the Court heard a plea filed by a 64-year-old businessman claiming that he was illegally arrested and his statement was recorded overnight, depriving him of the ‘right to sleep’ under Article 21 (Right to life with dignity) of the Constitution. The Court had then said that the ‘right to sleep’ was a basic human requirement and it affects a person’s health, and may impair his mental faculties and cognitive skills. It had rejected the businessman’s plea stating that there was no illegality in the person’s arrest but gave directions to the ED on timings for recording of statements under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.