बेबाक · Editorial
প্ৰৱৰ্তন নিৰ্দেশালয়, ছেবি আৰু আদালতসমূহ সক্ৰিয় হৈ আছে। পৰীক্ষাটো হৈছে সম-হাত।
ভাৰতৰ দায়বদ্ধতা ব্যৱস্থা-ইডি, ছেবি আৰু আদালত-ব্যস্ত; ইয়াৰ বৈধতা ই কিমান সঘনাই কাম কৰে তাৰ ওপৰত নিৰ্ভৰ নকৰে, বৰঞ্চ ই সমানভাৱে কাম কৰে নে প্ৰতাৰণা প্ৰতিৰোধ কৰে তাৰ ওপৰত নিৰ্ভৰ কৰে।
অভিযান, জৰিমনা আৰু ৰিট
এটা একক বাতৰি চক্ৰত, প্ৰবৰ্ত্তন নিৰ্দেশালয়ে সংলগ্ন কৰে
The reach is a virtue
There is genuine virtue here, and it should be stated plainly: the principle that the law reaches powerful institutions, office-holders and market actors alike is the foundation of a republic. In the same period, the US Supreme Court rejected Tata Consultancy Services' appeal in a $168-million trade-secrets case involving allegations that TCS misused proprietary life-insurance software originally licensed by CSC to Transamerica; the Kerala High Court directed Industries Secretary A.P.M. Mohammad Hanish to appear in person on June 19 in the cashew-import matter. When a regulator acts against a large broker and a court requires a senior secretary's personal appearance, the message is that office and scale confer no automatic immunity. A system that can subject the powerful to scrutiny is, in that respect, working.
Process is the test
Yet reach without rigour carries its own danger: enforcement that is energetic but uneven, or vigorous but careless, corrodes the very trust it claims to defend. In Madhya Pradesh, the family of a murdered man, Raja Raghuvanshi, has sought a Central Bureau of Investigation probe, alleging that a flawed investigation helped Sonam secure bail from a Shillong court in April this year. In Tamil Nadu, a third-party challenge to a former State Minister's acquittal in a 2002 disproportionate-assets case reached the Madras High Court with a plea to condone a delay of 839 days. A proceeding that spans two decades and still turns on whether a delay can be condoned is not a vindication of the system; it is an indictment of its pace.
Who the fraud robs
Look closer at what these numbers represent, and a moral hierarchy appears. The Uttarakhand case turns on educational institutions allegedly obtaining Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe scholarship funds released by the State's Social Welfare Department by showing ineligible, non-genuine and non-verifiable students as beneficiaries — money meant for those least able to absorb its theft. The ₹18.44 crore frozen across 129 accounts came in an online investment-fraud and money-laundering probe. The ₹4.28-crore Angel One settlement concerned failures to examine orders placed through common IP and MAC addresses for multiple clients, and failure to identify trading through another broker. These are not abstractions: they are failures of welfare delivery, investor protection and routine supervision.
Visibility is not justice
The verdict, then, is neither celebration nor cynicism but reform. An apparatus that freezes accounts, settles regulatory cases and summons secretaries is doing visible work; but visibility is not justice. The legitimacy of the Enforcement Directorate, a market regulator or a court rests on tests a citizen can verify: whether it moves against the powerful as readily as the obscure; whether investigations withstand judicial scrutiny; whether cases are pursued within a reasonable time rather than after long procedural delays; and whether the everyday machinery of audit and oversight prevents the fraud before any agency must chase it. By those measures, this week offers reassurance and warning in equal part.
A measurable, preventive compact
The way forward is specific and feasible. Agencies should publish, annually and by category, not merely the assets attached and accounts frozen but the outcomes secured and the time each case consumed — for attachment without resolution is theatre, and the public deserves the denominator. Investigations criticised by victims' families as flawed should face timely internal review, so that a grieving family need not petition for a transfer to be heard. Courts should place old corruption matters on priority dockets with fixed timelines. And prevention must precede policing: stronger verification and audits for welfare disbursements to bar phantom beneficiaries, and automated supervisory tripwires at brokers, so the State stops outsourcing routine oversight to the Enforcement Directorate and the higher judiciary.
দৃশ্যমানতা ন্যায় নহয়; এটা প্ৰয়োগকাৰী ৰাষ্ট্ৰই বৈধতা লাভ কৰে ই বন্ধ কৰা একাউণ্টবোৰৰ পৰা নহয় বৰঞ্চ ই প্ৰতিৰোধ কৰা জালিয়াতি আৰু গোচৰবোৰ সমাপ্ত কৰাৰ পৰা।
At stake is whether accountability bodies act with equality, transparency and timely access to remedies while citizens retain the information needed to judge them.
Even-Handed Enforcement Disclosure Law
Parliament should enact an Accountability Proceedings Transparency Bill requiring the ED, SEBI and notified investigating agencies to publish RTI-compliant quarterly dashboards on attachments, freezes, settlements, delays, case stage and restitution status, with safeguards for ongoing investigations and privacy. The law should set statutory timelines for speaking orders on prolonged delay and allow affected citizens to seek time-bound constitutional remedies when enforcement becomes selective, opaque or unreasonably slow.
আপোনাৰ সাংবিধানিক অধিকাৰ
এই কাহিনীত সংবিধানে কি নিশ্চয়তা দিয়েAny citizen may ask any public authority for information and must normally receive it within 30 days. It flows from the right to know under Article 19(1)(a).
StatutoryThe State shall not deny any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws. Like must be treated alike; the law cannot be arbitrary.
Fundamental RightThe right to move the Supreme Court directly to enforce fundamental rights — called by Dr Ambedkar "the heart and soul of the Constitution." The courts can issue writs such as habeas corpus and mandamus.
Fundamental RightEvery citizen has the right to freedom of speech and expression — including a free press and the right to know — subject only to the reasonable restrictions in Article 19(2).
Fundamental RightWhat this editorial rests on
Drawn from our live multi-newsroom feed — read the reporting at source.
আন্দোলনত যোগদান কৰক।
এটা সময়ত এটা নিৰ্ভীক সম্পাদকীয়-আপোনাৰ ভাষাত। ইয়াৰ উপৰিও সাংবিধানিক অনুৰোধ অনুসৰণ কৰিব লাগিব।
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