Supreme Court Rejects Petitions Seeking Probe Into Rafale Deal: BJP says ‘Truth Has Triumphed’

A three-Judge Bench of the Supreme Court of India led by retiring Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Thursday, November 14 gave a clean chit to the NDA Government  headed by Narendra  Modi dismissing a batch of review petitions challenging its December 2018 verdict on  the Rafale case. The Bench also comprised Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph said the petitions “lack merit”.“We don’t feel necessary to order FIR or roving inquiry into Rafale deal case,” the apex court said. In its April 10, 2019 order, the apex court had rejected the government’s objections to the admissibility of the documents sought to be relied on by the review petitioners. The government had taken the stand that these documents were unauthorizedly photocopied and leaked and that they enjoyed protection under The Official Secrets Act, 1923. The government sought their removal from the record of the case saying they were of sensitive nature and, if they were made public, they could jeopardise national security. The case related to the Rafale deal for the purchase of 36 state of the art fighter jets from French firm Dassault Aviation. India’s highest judiciary has also rejected the contention that there was need to register an FIR in connection with the Rs 58,000 crore deal. The pleas had sought re-examination of the apex court’s December 14, 2018 verdict that there was no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets. No Ground to Order FIR dismissing Review Pleas seeking probe Into Rafale Deal. It is not appropriate to order a roving inquiry into the allegations, the SC said. Maintaining that the review petitions have sought a registration of an FIR in connection with Rafale fighter jets jet deal, the bench said, “We do not consider it to be a fair submission”. “We do not find it appropriate to consider passing order for registration of FIR,” the Bench said. The Bench also closed a criminal contempt petition filed by BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for wrongfully attributing the phrase ‘chowkidar chor hai’ to the Supreme Court. It said Gandhi’s statement was “unfortunate” and he had to be “more careful in the future”. The court said it was not its business what “campaign line” he chose but he had to be wary about dragging the Supreme Court into it. What he said was “far from the truth” and probably said without even perusing the court’s Rafale judgment of December 2018. Though Gandhi had apologised, it came much later and in a convoluted manner, the court said.(with inputs from News 18)