What purpose?
The CBI has arrested Videocon Chairman Venugopal Dhoot and former ICICI CEO Chanda Kochhar
The arrest of Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot by the Central Bureau of Investigation will send shock waves across the corporate and banking sectors. On Friday, the CBI had arrested former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar in the same case which involved alleged irregularities in an over Rs 3,000-crore loan provided to the Videocon Group, a consumer electronics and oil and gas exploration company. At that time, she ran the private sector bank and was a member of the committee which cleared the loan, according to the CBI. The Central agency’s charge against her is that she abused her official position and “got illegal gratification/undue benefit through her husband from Dhoot for sanctioning Rs 300 crore to Videocon.” In October 2018, Chanda Kochhar quit as CEO and managing director of ICICI Bank over the allegations. While action against financial irregularities of such magnitude is welcome, one wonders what purpose the arrest serves. In a July 20 judgment this year, the Supreme Court said, “Police officers are vested with the power to arrest individuals at various stages of the criminal justice process, including during the course of investigation. However, this power is not unbridled. In terms of Section 41(1)(b)(ii) of the CrPC, the police officer in question must be satisfied that such arrest is necessary to prevent the person sought to be arrested from committing any further offence, for proper investigation of the offence, to prevent the arrestee from tampering with or destroying evidence, to prevent them from influencing or intimidating potential witnesses, or when it is not possible to ensure their presence in court without arresting them.”
Quite evidently, the arrests of the Kochhars and Dhoot do not satisfy the conditions laid down by the apex court. In the four years since when they were accused of the irregularities they would, if at all, have tampered with evidence and influenced or intimidated witnesses. Arrests of high-profile individuals—Chanda Kochhar was an iconic figure when heading ICICI and Dhoot a business tycoon—make good optics. They tend to show that the CBI is not afraid of or influenced by the high and mighty, but it still begs the question: what’s the purpose of arrests other than good optics? If someone commits a crime, they should be punished, but should they be humiliated before their crime has been proved in a court of law? After all, arrest does bring ignominy and attracts opprobrium? This is not to say that the big boys and girls of India Inc and banking are angels; those who indulge in wrongdoing should be penalised; but the process should not become the punishment. More than the corporate executives, it is senior bank executives who are fearful, leading to reluctance on their part to lend, thus affecting liquidity of businesses. It is time Central agencies used their power to arrest judiciously.
Source: The Pioneer
