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The Bombay High Court, which stressed that sleep is a basic human need that must be respected, strongly disapproved on Monday of the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) questioning of an individual until 3.30 am in an accused money laundering case. The HC condemned the petitioner's prolonged interrogation in the wee hours of the morning, although it dismissed a challenge to the detention.
The division bench of Justices Manjusha Deshpande and Revati Mohite-Dere emphasized the negative impacts of sleep deprivation on mental and cognitive abilities as well as overall health. They instructed the ED to publish a circular outlining the proper window of time for interrogation after a summons is issued.
The case started with a petition that 64-year-old Ram Issrani filed to contest his ED arrest on the grounds that it was unlawful. When Issrani arrived to the Mumbai ED on August 7, 2023, he was questioned until around three in the morning. He alleged that this violated his right to personal liberty. He was first detained at 10:30 am in Delhi and then arrested the next day. HC, however, felt that his case lacked merit, especially given the 11 a.m.–2 pm travel duration.
The court stressed that in order to prevent harming accused individuals' cognitive capacity, agencies should record their statements during normal hours. The HC emphasized that although the remarks might be included in the evidence, people who are witnesses can also be summoned under Section 50 of the PMLA, and the ED has not yet provided proof of the person's guilt for a crime covered by this Act.
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