Manish Tewari slams bill to oust jailed ministers as 'assault on constitution'

Congress MP Manish Tewari discusses a proposed bill sent to a Joint Parliamentary Committee, which mandates that ministers, including Chief Ministers and the Prime Minister, must resign if held in custody for over 30 days. Tewari argues the bill fundamentally opposes the legal principle of 'innocent until proven guilty,' a basic structure of the constitution. He warns it could lead to the weaponization of state agencies for political vendettas, turning the legal process into the punishment itself. Citing the potential for misuse, Tiwari states, “what you are doing is you are making an investigating officer or an SHO, the boss of even the Prime Minister of India.”