The Supreme Court on Wednesday lifted its five-year-old gag order on the publication, telecast and broadcast of the contents of Amar Singh CDs recorded by the Delhi police during 2005, which the Rajya Sabha MP claimed was done by some persons on the “forged” orders of the police.
The taped conversation, compiled in at least five CDs, allegedly had his intimate interactions with several politicians and film personalities which presented many of them in bad light and the apex court had passed an interim order in 2006 restraining the media from publishing, broadcasting and telecasting the contents of telephonic messages recorded by the Reliance communications network. A bench comprising Justices G.S. Singvi and A.K. Ganguly said the interim stay granted by the apex court was being vacated as “no case of taping of telephone has been made out against the statutory authorities in view of the criminal case which is going on and especially in view of the petitioner’s (Amar Singh’s) stand that he is satisfied with the Investigation in that case.”
The top court also pointed out that Mr Singh, who had named Congress president Sonia Gandhi as respondent in his initial petition filed in 2006, in fact had “withdrawn” the case against her.
Virtually commenting on the conflicting stance of Mr Singh, the top court pointedly said “the burden of the song in his writ petition is that respondent-7 (Mrs Gandhi), acting out of a political vendetta and exercising its influence on Delhi police administration, caused the interception of the telephone lines of various political leaders of the Opposition, including the petitioners”. But later he had changed his stance and stated he was satisfied with the probe of the Delhi police and, in fact, the recording was done by some persons and his information was based on the statement of one Anurag Singh. “But he did not say all these (things) in his affidavit when he filed the petition on January 21, 2006,” the bench recorded while assailing Mr Singh for filing a “false” affidavit in the apex court and “shifting” his stance.