Achi news desk-
Last Updated: March 28, 2024, 07:34 IST
New York, United States of America (USA)
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested on March 21. (PTI file photo)
Reports suggested that a US State Department official said that Washington ‘encourages a fair, transparent and timely legal process for chief minister Kejriwal’.
After India summoned a senior US diplomat to lodge a protest over comments on the arrest of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Washington stressed on Wednesday that it encourages fair, transparent and timely legal processes and “we do not believe that any one objected to that” .
“We continue to follow these developments closely, including the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal,” said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
Miller was responding to a question during a State Department briefing on India calling Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Gloria Berbena in New Delhi earlier in the day as well as on freezing the Congress party’s bank accounts.
“We are also aware of the claims of the Congress party that tax authorities have frozen some of their bank accounts in a manner that will make it challenging to campaign effectively in the upcoming elections. And we encourage fair, transparent and timely legal processes for all of these matters.
“Regarding your first question, I’m not going to talk about any private diplomatic conversations, but of course, what we’ve said publicly is what I’ve just said from here, that we encourages fair, transparent and timely legal processes. We don’t think anyone should object to that. I would make the same clear in private,” Miller said.
Officials of the Ministry of External Affairs summoned Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Gloria Berbena at her office in South Block in Delhi and lodged a strong protest against the comments of a US State Department official on Kejriwal’s arrest.
The meeting lasted for more than 30 minutes.
Reports suggested that a US State Department official said that Washington “is urging a fair, transparent and timely legal process for chief minister Kejriwal”.
The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Kejriwal in a money laundering case linked to the customs policy ‘scam’.
The case relates to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi government’s customs policy for 2021-22 which was later scrapped.
Earlier, the Ministry of External Affairs said that Delhi strongly opposes the US State Department spokesperson’s comments on some legal cases in India.
“In diplomacy, states are expected to respect sovereignty and other internal matters. This responsibility is even more so in the case of joint democracies. It could otherwise end up setting unhealthy precedents,” the ministry said.
“India’s legal processes are based on an independent judiciary committed to objective and timely results. Casting aspirations on that is unnecessary,” the MEA said.
