Former Supreme Court judge Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, on Thursday, 2 March, condemned the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that upheld several stringent provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
What did he say? Justice Nariman pointed out that the 2022 judgment overruled his own previous verdict of 2017 which had read down stringent bail conditions of PMLA.
He added that this was "very unfortunate" because it has now become difficult to get bail in money laundering cases.
"The ultimate conviction rate may be 0.2 per cent, so there is no hope of getting convicted, but you will not be let out on bail. So if the coercive machinery of the State is to be used in this fashion, then there is no doubt that the 'chill effect' spoken about in our judgments comes into play," he said, according to Bar and Bench.