Supreme Court dismisses plea alleging Congress made ‘toolkit’ to defame govt

LE Desk

New Delhi, July 5, 2021: The time has come to take action with regard to frivolous petitions filed in court, the Supreme Court said on Monday while refusing to entertain a Public Interest Litigation that sought a probe by the National investigation Agency into the Congress toolkit case.

The petitioner also wanted that the registration of the Indian National Congress be suspended if the allegations against them on “anti-national acts” are found true.

The court said that if the petitioner does not like the toolkit, “then do not look, ignore it… this is a propaganda of a political party”, NDTV reported.

Expressing displeasure over the petition, Justice DY Chandrachud said such frivolous petitions “cannot be heard”. 

“The time has come that the Supreme Court does something about such petitions,” he added.

Advocate Shashank Shekhar Jha, who was representing the petitioner, said even the use the term “Indian variant” for the Coronavirus mutant was a matter of propaganda. Singapore, he said, has taken objection to use of terms like “Singapore variant”.

“India is a democracy, you know?” Justice Chandrachud responded, questioning if a court can ever control the various forms of political propaganda, reported NDTV.

Justice MR Shah, who also constituted the two-judge bench, added that a criminal investigation is already pending in the ‘toolkit’ matter and said that the petitioner ought to avail remedies other than Article 32, which involves the right to move the Supreme Court for enforcement of other rights.

The bench noted that directions could not be issued under Article 32, as a general, umbrella petition could not be maintained under it, NDTV said.