THE Delhi High Court Wednesday said former Chief Minister of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti need not appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 15 in terms of the summons issued to her by the central agency..The ED also assured the high court that it would not insist on her presence till the next date of hearing of her plea i.e. March 19.A division bench of Justices Siddarth Mridul and Jairam Bhambhani was hearing a plea filed by Mufti challenging the power of the ED to issue her the summons..Mufti has challenged the constitutional validity of Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) which empowers the ED to summon any person to give evidence or produce records. All persons summoned are bound to answer questions put to them, and to produce the documents as required by the ED officers, failing which they can be penalised under the PMLA..She argued that she had not been informed if she was being summoned as an accused or a witness. She had also not been informed why she was being summoned and the scheduled offence under the PMLA which had given rise to the proceedings in respect of which the impugned summons had beenissued to her..She added she was not the subject of an investigation, nor was she an accused, in any of the scheduled offences to the best of her knowledge..A "compelled statement" may, thus, be used for offences under other laws as it is treated as 'evidence', thus effectively countering any protection against self-incrimination available under laws other than in a PMLA prosecution, she said..Mufti is being represented by advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan assisted by advocate Prasanna S.
