SC To Examine ‘Stolen’ Rafale Papers In Setback To Govt

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed preliminary objections by the government to considering documents “stolen” from the defence ministry as evidence in the Rafale fighter jet case, reports NDTV.

This means three classified documents sourced by the media without authorisation can be considered evidence and a basis for re-examining its December verdict when the court had given a clean chit to the Narendra Modi government over the Rafale deal.

The court’s decision on Wednesday is a huge win for free press. Citing internal notes of the defence ministry, a series of reports published by The Hindu said the ministry had objected to “parallel negotiations” for the jets by the Prime Minister’s Office. Pointing to the documents, a series of petitions called for a review of the verdict.

The Centre had told the top court that the documents filed by the petitioners are “sensitive to national security” and accused those who photocopied the papers of having committed theft and put national security in jeopardy by leaking them to the public. On Wednesday, the court dismissed that argument.