UN reacts to Arvind Kejriwal's arrest, hopes 'everyone's rights are protected'
The United Nations, responding to a question on the "political unrest" in India amid the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the freezing of Congress's bank accounts, said the world body hoped for the protection of people's "political and civil rights" during elections in India and other nations.
"We very much hope that in India, as in any country that is having elections, that everyone's rights are protected, including political and civil rights, and everyone is able to vote in an atmosphere that is free and fair," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at a press meet.
Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21 in the Delhi liquor policy case, days ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. He is currently in the custody of the central probe agency.
Meanwhile, the Congress alleged that the Income Tax Department had sealed their bank accounts, leaving them with no money to fight the parliamentary election.
The remarks by the United Nations follow similar statements by the United States and Germany on the arrest of the Aam Aadmi Party chief.
A spokesperson from the US State Department stated that they are "closely monitoring" the arrest of Kejriwal and are encouraging a "fair, transparent, and timely legal process". Registering India's protest over the statement, New Delhi summoned a senior US diplomat. Hours after this, on Wednesday, the US reiterated the same stand, calling for transparent and timely legal processes.
“I’m not going to talk about any private diplomatic conversations. But of course what we have said publicly is what I just said from here, that we encourage fair, transparent, timely legal processes. We don’t think anyone should object to that, and we’ll make the same thing clear privately, US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
A German foreign affairs spokesperson, in a statement, also said that the "standards relating to the independence of the judiciary and basic democratic principles" would be applied in Kejriwal's case. The External Affairs Ministry subsequently summoned a senior diplomat of the German Embassy to lodge its protest over the country's comments, calling it "blatant interference of internal affairs".
The case against Arvind Kejriwal pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 which was later scrapped.
