Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday described as "stray thoughts" Law Minister Salman Khurshid's statement that keeping top business executives in jail could hurt investments.
He said legal remedies were available if anybody is gets on the "wrong side" of the law.
Singh also said that Ministers "sometimes take advantage" of the democracy by making comments such as 'judicial interventions in policy-making' even as he observed that different arms of Constitution — the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary — should follow their "Constitutional dharma" to ensure that things are alright.
"Well, it would not be proper for me to comment on the stray thoughts of what my Minister has said," Singh said when asked about his views on Khurshid's statement that the investment climate could be affected if top business executives were locked up in jails.
The Prime Minister noted that "there are legal remedies available in our system.Whenever anybody gets on the wrong side of the law, and he or she is put behind bars, there are legal ways to get redressal."
He pointed out that the country has a functioning democracy in which all the three wings of the establishment-the Executive, the Judiciary, the Legislature — have a well defined role to play.
When his attention was drawn to comments by some ministers about 'judicial interventions in policy-making', Singh said, "Well, as I said, we are a functioning democracy, and therefore Ministers sometimes take advantage of that to express opinions.
"But as a government, we have high respect and high regard for judiciary and it is my sincere belief that the Constitution has laid down the path which the Executive, the Legislature, the Judiciary should follow. And if all of us follow the Constitutional dharma, I think things would turn out to be all right."
He did reply to certain adverse comments reportedly made by Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai about the government, saying he had not seen such a statement.
