National Desk
17 May
Sandeep Dhand Ludhiana
In a significant development, the Supreme Court of India is set to review the stringent provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) concerning bail conditions. This comes after a series of judicial reversals and amendments that have shaped the legal landscape around money laundering cases.
In November 2017, a division bench of Justice Rohinton Nariman and Justice S.K. Kaul struck down Section 45(1) of the PMLA, deeming it discriminatory for imposing two additional conditions for granting bail to the accused. However, in July 2022, a three-judge bench comprising Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, and Justice C.T. Ravikumar overturned this decision in the Vijay Madanlal Chaudhary case. They upheld the 2019 amendments to the PMLA, which shifted the burden of proof of innocence onto the accused and made bail nearly unattainable.
Recognizing the gravity of these changes, a bench headed by then Chief Justice N.V. Ramanna agreed to review the judgment on two primary grounds: the failure to provide a copy of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) to the accused at the time of arrest and the rebuttal of the presumption of innocence.
Days before Justice S.K. Kaul’s retirement in November last year, a special bench led by him recommended the Chief Justice of India establish a new bench to hear petitions challenging the enhanced powers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). This review aims to address concerns about fairness and due process in PMLA cases, impacting many accused under its stringent provisions.