Amnesty India's Plea In Supreme Court Challenging Freezing Of Bank Accounts To Be Listed Before A Bench Without Justice PS Narasimha

The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned Amnesty International India's petition challenging the Enforcement Directorate's attachment of its bank accounts by directing that it be listed before a bench in which Justice PS Narasimha (former Additional Solicitor General of India) is not a member.

A bench comprising Justices UU Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat and PS Narasimha was considering a special leave petition filed by the India wing of the international human rights organization challenging the refusal of the Karnataka High Court to interfere with the provisional attachment orders issued by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against the bank accounts under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

A single bench of the High Court, on December 16, 2020, had given partial relief to Amnesty India by allowing them to withdraw Rupees 60 lakhs to meet the expenses. Aggrieved with the refusal of the single bench to go into the substantive points of challenge raised against the provisional attachment order, Amnesty approached the division bench. On April 8, 2021, the division bench disposed of the appeal observing that the grounds of challenge against the provisional attachment order are to be raised before the PMLA Adjudicating Authority.

Amnesty India had stopped its operations in India following the attachment of its bank accounts.  In a related development, the former head of Amnesty India, Aakaar Patel, was last week prevented from travelling to the USA on the basis of a Look out Circular(LOC) issued by the CBI in respect to the money laundering case against the organization. Though a Delhi Magistrate granted relief to Patel by asking the CBI to withdraw the LOC after holding that it was issued without legal basis, the CBI Court stayed that order.  Patel's challenge against the LOC is to be heard by the CBI Court tomorrow.

(M/s Indians for Amnesty International Trust versus Union of India and others, SLP(Crl) 2541/2022).