Court calls Subramanian Swamy's Sunanda plea 'political interest litigation'

Terming it a textbook example of 'Political Interest Litigation dressed up as a Public Interest Litigation', the Delhi High court on Thursday dismissed a plea filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy which sought a court-monitored probe either by an SIT or the CBI in connection with the death of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar.

A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and IS Mehta dismissed the plea while stating that Swamy had failed to disclose the full facts and information in his possession to substantiate the claims and hence had concealed the facts.

"....this is perhaps a textbook example of a 'political interest litigation' dressed up as a PIL. The Court should be careful in not letting the judicial process be abused by political personae for their own purposes, whatever the nature of the matter may be...."

"The Court has to be satisfied that the allegations are based on some credible material and are made with a sense of responsibility," the bench said in its order.

Heated arguments were exchanged between Justice S Muralidhar and Swamy, after he was told to furnish proofs to substantiate claims.

Swamy has made claims of botched up investigation by the Delhi Police at the 'behest of rich and influential'.

"I bear 100 per cent responsibility of this PIL. This is not my first PIL. I have appeared before many courts. I have filed several petitions in the past. Many of them are reported judgements and I have been successful in most of them. I have also been the Law Minister of the country," he said, adding that he can file another affidavit to substantiate the sweeping allegations.

This, however, did not go well with the court which said that the facts have been concealed and it is not some casual thing.

"Is there is any personal investigation. If you have proof then why it has not been submitted in the court. It is very unfortunate that the court is being used for this," the bench observed.

"Although Swamy claims in the said affidavit that he has not concealed any data/material/information which may have enabled this Court to form an opinion as to whether it should entertain the petition, when asked specifically about the basis of the allegations made by him in the petition, his response is to seek further time to file another affidavit. This is a clear admission that what should have disclosed in the first place to this Court was not disclosed by him," the court said.

The bench also questioned the move of the BJP leader to not declare its political affiliation as well as that of other people whose names have been mentioned in the plea thereby terming it as a 'failure to disclose a material fact is a serious omission which cannot be easily condoned'.

While dismissing the plea, the court directed both Swamy and his counsel Ishkaran Bhandari to be careful in the future while making averments in their petitions.

"The credibility of the judicial process hinges upon the petitioners in a PIL," the court said directing that "hereafter, every writ petition (which includes a PIL petition) filed in the Registry should be supported by an affidavit which apart from complying with the legal requirements in terms of the governing Rules of the High Court, should clearly state which parts of the averments is true to the petitioners 's personal knowledge derived from records or based on some other source."

The bench refused to entertain the PIL and said, " The court is unable to be persuaded that the investigation being carried out by the SIT is botched up or under the influence of anyone.

Appearing for Late Sunanda Pushkar's son, Shiv Menon, his counsel Vikas Pahwa informed the court that one day prior to the petition being heard in the court, it was available on the internet.

The court, while terming this as a 'disturbing feature', observed that in petitions where allegations of a very serious kind are made against individuals the petitioner should be extremely circumspect in placing such petition in the public domain even before it is properly considered by the Court.

"Placing of such material on the net or in the social media can have irreversible consequences. This caution should be exercised particularly in matters where the reputation and privacy of the individuals may be involved," the court said in its order.

Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a five star hotel under mysterious circumstances on January 17, 2014.