Delhi HC rejects petition against Sonia
The Delhi high court on Thursday dismissed a public
interest litigation seeking Sonia
Gandhi's prosecution on the basis of the Gupta Committee report on Maruti affairs.
A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Mahinder
Narain and Justice S K Mahajan termed the PIL as 'motivated.' It asked
the petitioner, Patna-based
freelance journalist Madhuresh Kumar, to explain the provocation
behind filing such a case after 20-odd years.
''Why are you vocal after 20 years? What were you doing these
many years. Why did you not approach the court before?''Justice
Mahajan asked.
The petitioner's reply was that the report was
available to him only recently.
The bench observed that as Sonia Gandhi was a public-oriented person,
the petition should have been filed at some other stage and not at a
time when elections were on.
''It appears to be a motivated
petition. The court cannot be misused for such purposes,'' it said.
Kumar had sought action against Sonia
Gandhi along with former executive directors of Maruti Ltd Kapil
Mohan and Vidya Bhushan on the basis of the report which the former chief
justice of the Supreme Court, Alak Chandra Gupta, had submitted to the government.
Besides this, the petitioner is pursuing two other matters against Congress
president Sitaram Kesri in the high court.
UNI
Elections '98
Tell us what you think of this report
|