00:00 Following India's summoning of a senior US diplomat to protest comments regarding the
00:08 Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's arrest, the US State Department spokesperson Matthew
00:12 Miller has once again retariated Washington's clear stance on fair and legal process.
00:18 Miller emphasized the importance of transparency and timeliness in legal proceedings addressing
00:23 the concerns over both Kejriwal's arrest and freezing of Congress Party's bank accounts.
00:28 While Miller refrained from discussing private diplomatic conversations, he emphasized the
00:33 publicly need for a fair and transparent legal process, a sentiment echoed in private discussions
00:38 too.
00:39 The Ministry of External Affairs had lodged a protest with Gloria Barbena, expressing
00:44 a strong objection to US State Department officials' remarks on Kejriwal's arrest in
00:49 connection with the money laundering case.
00:51 The case involves alleged corruption related to the Delhi government's excise policy for
00:56 2021-22, which was later scrapped.
00:59 The meeting lasted over 30 minutes, emphasizing India's seriousness and addressing the issue.
01:04 Reports indicate that a State Department official had advocated for a fair and legal process
01:09 for Kejriwal.
01:10 India's Ministry of External Affairs previously had condemned US State Department spokesperson's
01:15 comments asserting the importance of respecting sovereignty and internal affairs, especially
01:20 among democracies.
01:22 The Ministry of External Affairs also had emphasized India's commitment to an independent
01:26 judiciary, emphasizing the unwarranted nature of casting aspirations on its legal process.
01:32 For the unaware, Delhi's CM Arvind Kejriwal was arrested on 22 March after ED found substantial
01:37 evidence against the Delhi CM, and CM had apparently refused approximately nine ED summons.
01:44 Meanwhile, the Congress Party is facing bank account freeze due to income tax filing issues,
01:49 on which the US has decided to question India, which has the further chance of soaring the
01:55 ties between the two nations.
01:58 We continue to follow these actions closely, including the arrest of Delhi CM Kejriwal.
02:05 We are also aware of the Congress Party's allegations that tax authorities have frozen
02:09 some of their bank accounts in a manner that will make it challenging to effectively campaign
02:13 in the upcoming elections, and we encourage fair, transparent, and timely legal processes
02:17 for each of these issues.
02:18 With respect to your first question, I'm not going to talk about any private diplomatic
02:22 conversations, but of course, what we have said publicly is what I just said from here,
02:27 that we encourage fair, transparent,
02:29 timely legal processes.
02:30 We don't think anyone should object to that.
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