In Brief
Pankaj Bansal and Basant Bansal were arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. They challenged their arrest and remand orders before the Punjab & Haryana High Court, which dismissed their petition. The Supreme Court held that their arrest was unlawful because: (1) the ED failed to furnish written copies of the grounds of arrest, merely reading them out; (2) the Magistrate failed to verify compliance with Section 19 safeguards before granting remand; and (3) the ED acted arbitrarily by recording a second ECIR immediately after granting interim bail and arresting them within 24 hours without disclosure. The Court established that written grounds of arrest must henceforth be furnished to arrested persons as a matter of course to comply with Article 22(1) of the Constitution. The appeals were allowed, arrest orders and remand orders were set aside, and the appellants were ordered released.
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