Rafale review: Docs photocopied minus consent affects security of nation says MoD affidavit

New Delhi, Mar 13: The petitioners are guilty of leakage of sensitive information in the Rafale case, the Ministry of Defence has told the Supreme Court in an affidavit.

The envisaged in the various agreements Central Government had entered into with the concerned Foreign Government and others concerning are matters of National Security, the Centre also said.

The documents attached in the review relates to the war capacity of the aircraft. Since Review Petition has been widely circulated and is available in public domain, the same is available to the enemy/our adversaries. This puts National Security in jeopardy, the affidavit also said.

The photcopies of the documents was done without consent. Hence it amounts to theft and this has affected the security, sovereignty and friendly relations with foreign countries, the affidavit also said.

The SC had earlier allowed the Defence Ministry to file an affidavit in connection with the case.

The ministry had sought permission of the court to file the affidavit, following which it was granted.

The court it may be recalled is hearing a review plea against it order on the deal. The review was filed after the SC had given its thumbs up to the deal, while stating that there were no irregularities.

It may be recalled that attorney general K K Venugopal had said at an open court hearing that the "documents relied on by the petitioners in their review petitions were stolen from the ministry and should not be relied on".

"It's a criminal act on the part of petitioners to bring these documents with them. They have come with unclean hands," Venugopal had said. "Defence is the most important matter of state and national security. They have been illegally obtained and the source is not disclosed by the petitioners. It's a privileged document. These documents have made the cost of weapons public and has been taken from notes and has been put in the petition."

He however later clarified that the documents were not stolen, but photo copied.