India condemns Germany’s remark on Kejriwal’s arrest calling it interference in internal judicial process

India has strongly condemned Germany's remarks on the recent arrest of Arvind Kejriwal terming it as “most unwarranted” and "biased assumptions" about what is an internal matter of India.

According to media reports, the Ministry of External Affairs summoned the Deputy Head of Mission, Georg Enzweiler, “and conveyed India’s strong protest,” after the statement was made by Germany’s foreign affairs spokesperson.

In a statement in Berlin, when asked about the arrest at a press conference last week on Friday, Germany’s foreign office spokesperson said that he hoped the “standards relating to the independence of the judiciary and basic democratic principles” would be applied in Kejriwal’s case.

Sebastian Fischer, spokesperson for Germany’s foreign office said: “We assume and expect that the standards relating to independence of judiciary and basic democratic principles will also be applied in this case.”

“…Like anyone facing accusations, Mr. Kejriwal is entitled to a fair and impartial trial, this includes he can make use of all available legal avenues without restrictions. The presumption of innocence is a central element of the rule of law and must apply to him,” the spokesperson said.

MEA official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Saturday said, “The German deputy chief of mission in New Delhi was summoned today and conveyed India’s strong protest on their Foreign Office spokesperson’s comments on our internal affairs…We see such remarks as interfering in our judicial process and undermining the independence of our judiciary.”

According to Indian Express, this is the third face-off between the German Foreign Ministry and the MEA in the last three years over the judicial actions of Indian opposition leaders and civil society.

Earlier, the German Foreign ministry had taken note of the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi in March 2023 and the arrest of Indian fact-checker Mohammed Zubair in July 2022.

Kejriwal was arrested by the central probe agency last week on Thursday in connection with the Delhi Excise policy scam. He has been remanded in ED custody until March 28. The Delhi High Court refused his petition for an urgent hearing after the trial court handed Kejriwal’s custody to ED.