The Supreme Court Thursday held that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) cannot arrest an accused under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after a special court has taken cognisance of the complaint of money laundering. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said when an accused appears before a court in pursuance of a summons, the agency will have to apply to the court concerned to get his custody. "If the accused appears before the special court by summons (issued by court), it cannot be treated that he is in custody," it said. "Accused who appeared before the court pursuant to the summons not required to apply for bail, and thus twin conditions of Section 45 of PMLA not applicable," the bench said in its judgment. The twin conditions state that when an accused in a money laundering case applies for bail, the court has to first allow the public prosecutor to be heard and only when it is satisfied that the accused is not guilty and unlikely to commi
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday believed to have approved amendments to the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023, which seeks to decriminalise minor offences by amending 183 provisions in 42 Acts with a view to promote ease of business, sources said. It proposes to amend 183 provisions across 42 Acts administered by 19 ministries. The bill came up for discussions in the cabinet meeting today, they said. The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill was introduced by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal in the Lok Sabha on December 22 last year. After that, the bill was referred to a joint committee of parliament. The committee has held detailed discussions with all the 19 ministries or departments along with the legislative department and department of legal affairs. It adopted its report in March this year, which was laid before Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha that month. The parliamentary panel had suggested the Centre to encourage states and Union Territories to ..
Cognisable offence is one for which police can carry out an arrest without a warrant