There’s something seriously wrong with the heads of the top brass in Central government agencies such as the CBI, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax Department, who summon and question citizens for eight-ten hours at a stretch to unearth alleged suspected crimes and misdemeanours.

Take the case of K. Kavitha, MP and daughter of Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, who was interrogated by detectives of the Enforcement Directorate for nine hours on March 11, and again for ten hours on March 20. All this in connection with a case filed by ED/CBI against the Aam Aadmi Party whose Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is charged with master-minding a liquor excise duty scam by changing the Delhi state government’s policy to favour a cartel of South Indian businessmen and politicians with whom Kavitha is allegedly involved.

The merits and demerits of the case apart, one wonders why such prolonged questioning of witnesses/accused is necessary and permitted. In most democratic countries the maximum time allowed for grilling the accused is one hour after which the accused are either arrested or allowed to go about their business. Merely repeating charges and confronting the accused with “evidence” and “proof” of wrong-doing in the hope of tripping them up is not legitimate investigation, but brow-beating. And it’s highly doubtful if confessions or evidence obtained under duress will be admissible in courts of law. The mental picture of ill-trained officers of CBI, ED and tax agencies repeatedly asking the same questions over and over again for hours, and proudly filing 1,000-page chargesheets written in gibberish, reinforces the popular belief that the process is the punishment, if not that the law is an ass.

Instead of commending investigative brow-beating and mental torture of citizens, judges would do well to pass strictures against over-zealous officials of investigative agencies who are bringing the justice system into further disrepute.