US encourages ‘fair, transparent legal process’

The US is closely following reports of the arrest of Indian opposition figure Arvind Kejriwal and encourages a fair legal process, a State Department spokesperson said on Monday after Germany's reaction to the case sparked a protest from India. Kejriwal, a national opposition figure and chief minister of Delhi's capital territory, was arrested by India's financial crime-fighting agency on Thursday on corruption charges that his political party rejects, a month before national elections. "We encourage a fair, transparent, and timely legal process for Chief Minister Kejriwal," the US spokesperson said in response to an emailed query about the case, in which India summoned a German envoy on Saturday to protest against his government's remarks about the arrest. Asked about the arrest at a government press conference on Friday, Sebastian Fischer, spokesperson for Germany's foreign office said that like anyone else facing accusations, Kejriwal was entitled to a fair and impartial trial. "We assume and expect that the standards relating to independence of judiciary and basic democratic principles will also be applied in this case," he said. Meanwhile, Delhi police yesterday detained dozens of supporters of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as they attempted to march to Modi's residence to protest against last week's arrest of Kejriwal.