New Delhi: After India summoned a senior US diplomat against Washington's remarks on the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the US has avoided direct comment but reiterated its "fair and transparent legal processes".
After India objected to US's remark on the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the liquor policy case and summoned an American diplomat over the issue, the US has avoided direct comment on the call to its official's but reiterated its emphasis for "fair and transparent legal processes".
"We continue to follow these actions closely, including the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal. We encourage fair, transparent and timely legal processes for each of these issues," US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
The US, however, turned the heat on India over Congress's allegation that tax authorities have frozen party leaders' bank account. “We are also aware of the Congress's allegations that tax authorities have frozen some of their bank accounts in a manner that will make it challenging to effectively campaign in the upcoming elections. And we encourage fair, transparent and timely legal processes for each of these issues," Miller said. He was replaying to a question during the State Department briefing over India summoning Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Gloria Berbena in Delhi as well as on the freezing of Congress's bank accounts.
On India summoning the US diplomat, Miller, however, refused to make any comment, citing "private diplomatic conversations". "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 and timely legal processes. We don't think anyone should object to that," Miller said.
India earlier lodged a strong protest against Washington's "closely monitoring" remark on the arrest of Kejriwal. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) officials summoned the Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Gloria Berbena to its office in South Block in Delhi. The meeting lasted for more than 30 minutes.
The MEA later in a statement said, "We take strong objection to the remarks of the Spokesperson of the US State Department about certain legal proceedings in India."
"In diplomacy, states are expected to be respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of others. This responsibility is even more so in the case of fellow democracies. It could otherwise end up setting unhealthy precedents," the statement said.
India's legal processes are based on "an independent judiciary which is committed to objective and timely outcomes," the MEA said in the statement while underlining that "casting aspersions on that was unwarranted".
