The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a petition seeking deregistration of the Congress for allegedly creating a “toolkit” to blame the Narendra Modi government for the massive loss of lives during the pandemic, saying no such order can be passed as India is a “democracy”.
“...If you don’t like the toolkit, ignore it. It’s all part of a political propaganda,” a bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah told advocate Shashank Shekhar Jha who had filed the petition.
Jha had sought a probe by the National Investigation Agency into the alleged “toolkit” circulation and deregistration of the Congress if the allegations were found to be true.
Jha had filed the petition on the ground that the alleged toolkit had lowered the country’s image in the globe as he claimed the Congress chose to brand the coronavirus as an “Indian variant”.
The advocate argued that even Singapore had taken an exception when a certain strain of the virus was described by some people as the “Singapore variant”.
“But, India is a democracy, right,” Justice Chandrachud quipped.
Justice Shah said the plea of the petitioner cannot be entertained under Article 32 of the Constitution.
Under Article 32 a person can move the Supreme Court directly for his or her fundamental right. In the present case the court felt no fundamental right of the petitioner was violated by the purported toolkit.
“Why should we issue directions in petition under 32? People have remedy in criminal law,” the bench said.
“Mr Jha, please withdraw this. You may pursue your remedies under appropriate law,” the bench added, following which the petitioner chose to withdraw the petition.
The alleged “toolkit” was at the centre of a controversy in May. While BJP leaders had accused the Congress of creating it to defame the government, the Opposition party rejected the allegation outright and filed police complaints accusing the BJP of forging it. It sought forensic examination of the “toolkit” and a fair investigation.
BJP leaders’ posts on the purported “toolkit” were marked as manipulated media by Twitter, triggering loud protests from the ruling party.
