Hemant Soren’s aide Prem Prakash released on bail in money laundering case
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled that the concept of “bail is rule and jail is exception” also extended to money laundering cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The highest court’s ruling came as it released Prem Prakash on bail, who was accused of being connected to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in a money laundering case, overturning the High Court’s decision.
The Supreme Court based its decision on the precedent set in Manish Sisodia’s case, in which the AAP leader was given bail in the supposed Delhi liquor policy scandal.
Based on the ruling in Manish Sisodia case, we have reiterated that bail should be the norm and imprisonment the exception even in PMLA cases. The bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan stated that the norm is always the freedom of the individual, with deprivation being the exception and following a legally established process.
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The Supreme Court ruled that confessions made by a defendant charged under PMLA to an investigating officer would generally not be accepted as evidence. The bar on such confessions according to Section 25 of Bhartiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (formerly known as Indian Evidence Act) is said to be relevant.
“We hold statements of the appellant, if found to be incriminating, will be hit by Section 25. It would be a travesty to make the statement admissible merely because he was then under custody for another ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report). It will be extremely unfair to make such statements admissible as it would be against all canons of justice,” the court said.
