India on Saturday summoned the German deputy chief of mission to register New Delhi’s protest over Germany’s comments on the arrest of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, billing it an interference in “our judicial process”.

Asked whether Germany had made an assessment of Kejriwal’s arrest on the eve of the general elections and in the context of the Opposition’s allegation that it is politically motivated, the German foreign office spokesperson had on Friday underscored that the “presumption of innocence” and the standards relating to the independence of the judiciary should be applied to him while maintaining that India is a democracy.

Announcing the summons, external affairs ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said India’s strong protest on the German foreign office spokesperson’s comments on “our internal affairs” was conveyed, adding that “we see such remarks as interfering in our judicial process and undermining the independence of our judiciary”.

Jaiswal added: “India is a vibrant and robust democracy with rule of law. As in all legal cases in the country, and elsewhere in the democratic world, law will take its own course in the instant matter. Biased assumptions made on this account are
most unwarranted.’’

Last year, the German foreign office spokesperson had given a similarly worded response to a question on the disqualification of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha.