Supreme Court: The Court has allowed the Defence Ministry to file an affidavit in the Rafale Deal case that will come up for hearing tomorrow.
In the case that has become a high voltage Courtroom drama, the government told the Court last week that documents related to the Rafale fighter jet deal have been stolen from the Defence Ministry. The Hindu newspaper had published articles on the Rafale deal that were allegedly based on the said documents.
The Hindu Publishing Group Chairman N Ram said those documents were published in public interest as the details of the Rafale deal were withheld or covered up. He said:
“You may call it stolen documents…we are not concerned. We got it from confidential sources and we are committed to protecting these sources. Nobody is going to get any information from us on these sources. But the documents speak for themselves and the stories speak for themselves.”
The AG submitted that the documents were marked secret and classified and are therefore in violation of the Official Secrets Act. He also told the Supreme Court that the Rafale case pertains to defence procurement which cannot be reviewed judicially.
AG told the Court that every statement of the court made in the Rafale case may be used to destabilise either the government or the opposition and therefore court should refrain from making it.
CJI asked AG:
“if an act of corruption is committed in Rafale deal, will Govt take shelter behind Official Secrets Act? I am not saying it is committed, but if it is then government cannot take shelter behind OSA.”
The Court said that it been has settled in a catena of judgments that even if stolen documents are cited, and if they are found relevant, the court can look into them.
