Phone tapping in legal ambit: Prithviraj Chavan

The government and opposition parties are heading for a major showdown over ‘illegal’ phone tapping, which the latter perceives as a weapon to silence its voice. On the other hand, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday justified the secret recording of phone conversations between some Sena leaders during Tuesday’s Pune bandh by the home department on the grounds that it is legally permissible.

The home ministry has confirmed the authenticity of the phone calls. “The violence unleashed during the bandh was a result of orders issued by Milind Narvekar, personal secretary of Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray, to Neelam Gorhe, who was leading the protest on the streets of Pune,” it said.

Upset with the mechanism resorted to by the ruling Congress-NCP, BJP’s senior leader Gopinath Munde has termed it a blatant misuse of power, and will lead a delegation to the governor to register a complaint. Munde said, “If the government was so concerned about law and order, why is it not revealing the conversations between NCP leaders that led to removal of the Dadoji Konddev statue from Lal Mahal. We want to know who ordered the statue’s removal that caused such social unrest in the state.”

Munde said, “This points to suppressing the freedom of opposition parties. After emergency in 1975, the parliament and legislative bodies had outlined the dos and don’ts on phone tapping. It was categorically stated that the police can tap phones of dreaded criminals, anti-nationals et al. How can they extend it to opposition leaders?”

Interestingly, the matter was heatedly debated during the winter session at Nagpur when leader of the Eknath Khadse revealed his phones were being secretly tapped. Home minister RR Patil denied any instance of phone tapping. Not surprisingly, Munde on Thursday said, “Patil owes an explanation for misleading the assembly.”

Sources in the home department however said, “To ensure law and order, we are allowed to intercept conversations of those short-listed and suspected of creating trouble. There is no other motive.”