It is not that the Delhi High Court dismissed Subramanian Swamy’s PIL seeking a court-monitored SIT investigation into the death of Sunanda Pushkar, though there is that.
It is not that an acerbic, and clearly annoyed, high court called out the PIL as a “political interest litigation” — though there is that, too.
What should make you sit up and take notice is this:
The court also said Swamy appears to have concealed data or information which he should have disclosed at the first instance. The central government, as well as the Delhi Police, told the high court that they did not subscribe to the views expressed by Swamy that the probe in the case has been influenced by Tharoor.
It was also observed by the Court that Swamy, on being specifically asked about the basis of his allegations, says that he shall file another affidavit regarding the same, thus admitting that he has information that was not filed before and which ought to have been filed.
Which is to say, having first filed a PIL where facts in his position relevant to the case were not disclosed, and having been pulled up severely by the court, Swamy now wants a do-over.
All that has been achieved so far, meanwhile, is that the new lexicon for a New India acquires another phrase: political interest litigation.
Update, 6:45 PM: Here in PDF form is the full order by the Delhi High Court. Elsewhere, predictably:
#SunandaMailTrail | Fresh evidence, fresh clues. Watch Arnab and Prema LIVE here – https://t.co/lpnVZxoMbs pic.twitter.com/25tEPkEwAX
— Republic (@republic) October 26, 2017
2 comments
Isn’t there any law in India against vexatious litigation or against pestilent serial litigants? This is a country whose legal system is at breaking point and you have people trying to score cheap political points as well as hurt families of the deceased by indulging in such abominable tactics?
Swamy should simply be jailed if he files any other suit, in this matter.
Unfortunately, no. The PIL is per se a good thing, but as with everything else its original purpose has been lost and misuse is the norm (And I don’t mean in this instance alone). What is missing in the structure is a clearing house — a judge, say, whose job is to quickly vet PILs on specified criteria and weed out frivolous ones so that only legit PILs make it to the calendar and take up the time of the bench.
Swamy has weaponized the PIL to an incredible degree — files them scattershot, like a cow pissing on rock; talks it up on his Twitter TL and in his interviews throughout the process, shrugs off the ones he loses, which is more than half the time, criticizes the courts when things go against him, and quickly finds some other red herring to draw across the trail. What else has he got to occupy his time with, anyway?
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