‘Blatant interference’: India summons German diplomat over remarks on Kejriwal’s arrest

‘Blatant interference’: India summons German diplomat over remarks on Kejriwal’s arrest
New Delhi: India on Saturday summoned the German deputy chief of mission here and lodged a strong protest against the country’s foreign ministry’s remarks on the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The German envoy Georg Enzweiler was summoned by officials in the external affairs ministry and told that the German Foreign Ministry’s remarks on Kejriwal’s arrest were an interference in India’s judicial process and any “biased assumptions” were “most unwarranted”, an MEA official said. A German Foreign Ministry spokesperson had “taken note” of Kejriwal’s arrest.

“We assume and expect that the standards relating to the independence of Judiciary and basic democratic principles will also be applied in this case,” the German official had 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,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

“We see such remarks as interfering in our judicial process and undermining the independence of our judiciary,” he said. “India is a vibrant and robust democracy with the rule of law. As in all legal cases in the country, and elsewhere in the democratic world, law will take its own course in the instant matter. Biased assumptions made on this account are most unwarranted,” Jaiswal said.