The Supreme Court on Wednesday, 6 March, began hearing the petitions seeking a review of its judgment on the government’s purchase of 36 Rafale jets from Dassault Aviation.
Attorney General (AG) KK Venugopal told the court that the documents revealed by N Ram on the deal were stolen from the Defence Ministry. He further said that The documents are supposed to be secret and their publication amounts to violations of Official Secrets Act.
Prashant Bhushan told the court that they weren’t asking for the court to strike down the deal, but instead for the court to direct an investigation by the CBI into it.
- The top court is also looking into applications seeking perjury prosecution of government officials for allegedly misleading the court
- Bhushan told the SC that we have also made a supplementary affidavit based on reports by The Hindu’s Narasimman Ram
- On 14 December last year, the apex court had dismissed a clutch of PILs, including the one filed by Sinha, Shourie, and Bhushan, saying there was “no occasion to doubt” the decision-making process of the Centre in the procurement of 36 Rafale jets from France
“They’ve Come With Unclean Hands”: AG Accuses Petitioners of Violating Official Secrets Act
“They have come with unclean hands,” says AG KK Venugopal adding that publication of the Defence Ministry notes on the Rafale deal violates Sections 3 (spying) and 5 (wrongful communication of confidential information) of the Official Secrets Act.
Venugopal also says placing this information before the court by the petitioners is a criminal act.
‘Will You Hide Behind National Security If Corruption Has Been Committed?’: SC Asks AG
CJI says Venugopal is going off-track. Says he needs to stick to whether or not the review petition can’t be heard.
Justice KM Joseph asks him “If a grave crime had been committed, of corruption, are you really going to hide behind national security?”
Joseph further says that illegally obtained evidence can still be admissible if it is relevant. He says Venugopal can make a limited objection on the grounds that the source of the information needs to be disclosed, not that it can’t be used.
KK Venugopal Counters Bhushan’s Arguments
Attorney General KK Venugopal counters a point raised by Prashant Bhushan before lunch that the Official Secrets Act is overridden by the RTI Act, which allows file nothings in govt files to be made public.
Venugopal says that the Defence Ministry note that alleged PMO interference in the deal was meant to be kept secret. He further says the word “Secret” on the top of the page was cropped from The Hindu’s article. This article has been referred to in review petition evidence.
Venugopal reads it from the Official Secrets Act to show that publication of a “note” can also violate the Act.
“Look at the damage done by publishing this information,” he says. He then talks about the need for aircraft to combat F1-16s, saying these objections cause delay.
AAP’s Petition Won’t Be Heard, Says SC
CJI informs AAP MP Sanjay Singh’s lawyer, Sanjay Hegde, that they will not hear Singh’s review petition because Singh has made derogatory remarks about the court re Rafale and Alok Verma case. The CJI also said that Singh might be hauled up for contempt.
‘Threat Against Petitioners’: Bhushan on AG’s Arguments
Prashant Bhushan argues that the Attorney General’s statement is a threat against the petitioners which amounts to criminal contempt of court.
Petitions Should be Scrapped as Rafale Documents Stolen from Ministry, Says AG
KK Venugopal raises preliminary objection, says the review petition by Sinha, Shourie and Bhushan and the perjury application filed by them need to be dismissed because they rely on secret documents that should not be public.
He says the documents revealed by N Ram on the deal were stolen from the Defence Ministry. They’re supposed to be secret, publication amounts to violations of Official Secrets Act.
Congress Attacks Government Over Rafale Deal
Didn’t Seek Cancellation of Deal, Sought a Probe Into It: Prashant Bhushan
Prashant Bhushan explains why they believe the court was misled by the Centre, and the misinformation in the “sealed cover” led to the factual errors in the December verdict.
Bhushan says that the judges didn’t address the relief sought by him, Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha . He said that they weren’t asking for the court to strike down the deal, but instead for the court to direct an investigation by the CBI into it.
The three of them had filed a complaint with the CBI setting out why it looked like there was corruption in the deal.
He further says that the CBI didn’t register an FIR, which was why the three of them approached the SC. However, the judges never addressed request, instead only dealing with other petitioners’ requests for cancellation of the deal.
Bhushan told the SC that we have also made a supplementary affidavit based on reports by The Hindu’s Narasimman Ram. CJI Ranjan Gogoi says, “We don’t want any supplementary stuff. We have read what all you have given us.”
SC Begins Hearing Review Petitions on Rafale Case Verdict
The Supreme Court begins hearing the petitions seeking a review of its judgment on the government’s purchase of 36 Rafale jets from Dassault Aviation. (The Qunt)
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