UPA government moves Supreme Court to restrain Swamy – Nagendar Sharma
The government on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking to restrain Janata Party chief Dr Subramanian Swamy from making wild allegations against the UPA leadership in the 2G scam case.
In its two-page application, the government sought the top court’s intervention into what it termed Dr Swamy’s attempts to “malign and lower the image and prestige of public servants holding important offices in government and parliament”.
A defiant Swamy, however, refused to withdraw his allegations and dared the government to file a defamation case against him.
The government has pointed out that Swamy delivered a lecture on ‘Hidden Facts About the 2G Spectrum’ in Bangalore on October 19, and his speech was reported by many newspapers.
In his speech, Swamy had said: “A Raja is a small fry in the big scam. Chidambaram is the mastermind who guided Raja through the 2G spectrum allocation deal…I will not sleep till I get the real people behind the scam arrested.”
Swamy also named DMK head M Karunanidhi and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi among others in his list of alleged beneficiaries from the scam.
The government has stated that since the matter is pending before the Supreme Court and the CBI special court, Dr Swamy has deliberately interfered with the course of justice in a “sub-judice matter”.
“Till this day there has been no contradiction of the news reports by Dr Swamy…. Propriety order demands that the litigant should not speak on the subject in public and declare that certain persons including an accused as guilty of serious offences,” states the government application.
When contacted, Swamy questioned the government’s move to provide its application to the media. “Supreme Court rules require that such an application must be filed only after serving me with a copy of the same. This has not been done, and yet mediapersons have been provided a copy…. There is also a question of freedom of speech.
Relief from that is only by way of the law of defamation.”
The Supreme Court had on October 10 reserved its judgment on Swamy’s application for a probe into home minister P Chidambaram’s role into the 2G scam as the then finance minister during 2007-08. – Hindustan Times, New Delhi, Nov. 14, 2010
Swamy’s response
I have been contacted by the media to seek my comment on an Interlocutory Application filed by the Union of India in the Supreme Court seeking directions of the Hon’ble Court to prevent me from making public statements on the foreign bank accounts of Ms. Sonia Gandhi and P. Chidambaram.
Supreme Court Rules require that such an Application must be filed only after serving me with a copy of the same. This has not been done, and yet media persons have been provided a copy.
However at this stage all I can say is that subjudice principles invoked in the Interlocutory Application do not apply in India since we do not have a jury system. A jury of ordinary citizens can be influenced by statements made outside the Court. But in India there is no such possibility.
There is also a question of Freedom of Speech which can only be subject to reasonable restrictions. Attacking by words or speeches or making allegations against Sonia Gandhi and Chidambaram is perfectly within the Constitution.
Relief from that is only by way of the law of Defamation.
Filed under: india | Tagged: black money, censorship, corruption, defamation, free speech, indian politics, p. chidambaram, sonia gandhi, swiss bank accounts | 1 Comment »
