Pravez Khan vs Directorate Of Enforcement

Headnote AI-drafted · Editorially reviewed

Five bail applications filed under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in connection with ECIR/DLZO-II/03/2024 dated 16.03.2024 were taken up together for common disposal before the Delhi High Court. The petitioners had been arrested in connection with the predicate offence, in which FIR was registered in March 2024, and had already been granted bail in the predicate offence proceedings. The court heard marathon day-to-day arguments on behalf of all accused/applicants as well as the Directorate of Enforcement.

The judgment commenced with a significant prelude noting that during the course of arguments, a series of articles were published on the front page of a national newspaper on four consecutive days. These articles not only reported on the offences but also purported to anticipate and answer queries raised by the court to counsel for the ED, and disclosed WhatsApp chats allegedly exchanged between the accused without redaction or anonymisation. The court expressed deep concern that such publications, coinciding precisely with the period of hearing, could have been engineered to influence, overawe or condition the judicial mind, potentially constituting an assault on the independence of the judiciary and the sanctity of the adjudicatory process.

While refraining from returning any definitive finding of culpability against the ED, the accused, or the newspaper at the present juncture owing to want of cogent material, the court unequivocally deprecated the conduct and issued a strong word of caution against any repetition of such attempts to influence judicial proceedings through media. The court affirmed that judicial minds remain uninfluenced by such efforts, but emphasised that the rule of law and the integrity of the adjudicatory process must be zealously protected.

Catchwords: bail Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA money laundering Directorate of Enforcement media influence on judiciary judicial independence sub judice reporting WhatsApp chats disclosure predicate offence ECIR regular bail contempt press freedom versus judicial integrity