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New Delhi summoned the German embassy's deputy chief of mission,
Georg Enzweiler, "and conveyed India’s strong protest," India's
foreign ministry said.
The embassy had no comment about the protest.
Arvind 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
party rejects, a month before national elections.
Asked about the arrest at a government press conference on
Friday, Sebastian Fischer, spokesperson for Germany's foreign
office said, Berlin had taken note.
"We assume and expect that the standards relating to
independence of judiciary and basic democratic principles will
also be applied in this case," Fischer said, adding that like
anyone else facing accusations, Kejriwal is entitled to a fair
and impartial trial.
"We see such remarks as interfering in our judicial process and
undermining the independence of our judiciary," the Indian
ministry said in a statement. "Biased assumptions made on this
account are most unwarranted."
It said the law will take its course in the matter, as in all
legal cases in the country, and elsewhere in the democratic
world.
New Delhi and Berlin share good ties, and the two countries have
been coming closer on strategic issues, including defense
technology.
(Reporting by Krishn Kaushik in New Delhi and Emma-Victoria Farr
in Frankfurt; Editing by William Mallard)
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