New Delhi: The Karnataka high court has quashed a notice issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in 2018 under the Foreign Exchange Management (FEMA) and the IT Acts to block the bank accounts of Amnesty International India.
According to the Indian Express, a single-judge bench of the high court quashed the October 26, 2018 notice, saying it was valid only for 60 days. The order was challenged by Amnesty International India and Indians for Amnesty International Trust.
The newspaper said that the rights body’s lawyer argued that the notice issued by the ED under section 37 of FEMA, read with section 132 of the IT Act “stipulates a validity of the notice for only 60 days”. The lawyer cited a February 2019 order passed by another single-judge bench of the Karnataka HC. In that case, the court struck down similar order against another rights body, Greenpeace India Society. The 2019 ruling was based on Supreme Court orders in similar matters, according to IE.
Amnesty India’s offices were shut in 2020, after its bank accounts were frozen by the ED. It accused the government of an “incessant witch-hunt” against human rights organisations over “unfounded and motivated allegations”.
In 2018, the ED accused Amnesty International India Foundation Trust of trying to circumvent the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, the license for which was denied to the human rights NGO in 2010.