New Delhi: The government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that documents related to the Rafale deal had been stolen from the ministry of defence and threatened The Hindu newspaper with action under the Official Secrets Act for publishing articles based on them.
Mr Venugopal said the documents relied upon by Mr Bhushan were stolen from the defence ministry and an investigation into the matter was under way.
At this point, the Chief Justice said hearing Mr Bhushan did not mean the court was taking on record the documents on the Rafale deal.
He also asked Mr Venugopal to tell the court what action was taken on theft of the documents on the aircraft deal.
The attorney general submitted that the documents relied on by the petitioners were marked “secret” and “classified” and there was therefore a violation of the Official Secrets Act.
The attorney-general also told the Supreme Court that the Rafale case pertains to defence procurement, which cannot be reviewed judicially. Referring to the aerial combat with Pakistan last week, he said the nation needs the Rafale jet to defend itself “from F-16 fighter planes that recently bombed us”.
“Without Rafale how can we resist them?” he asked, and added that two squadrons of Rafale fighters were coming in flyaway condition. The first will come in September this year, A-G said.
