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Phone-tapping case: SC slams Amar Singh for changing stand

February 09, 2011 20:46 IST
Controversial politician Amar Singh on Wednesday got the rough end of the stick in the Supreme Court, which lashed out at him for filing a petition against the Congress and its President Sonia Gandhi in the phone tapping case and now wanting to withdraw it in the "changed circumstances".

Calling the former Samajwadi Party leader's personal knowledge "dubious", a two-member bench of the court showed its unhappiness with his change of stand, four years after he had made allegations against the ruling party.

"Tell us in view of your revised affidavit how do you affirm the allegations against the political party through its president," the bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly said.

"The court is a victim of your affidavit. The court had started hearing your case and attention was given to you for many years on the basis of your averments in the petition. How many hours and days were spent on your case," the bench asked.

"When the court is asking you to pin-point the averments, you are withdrawing the major chunk of your averments," the bench observed.

The bench wanted to know from Singh why he wanted to withdraw allegations against a "particular respondent".       

Senior counsel and Congress spokesperson Abishek Singhvi, appearing for Singh, replied that the allegations have been withdrawn due to the changed circumstances which were based on the personal knowledge.

"Your averments, which are based on personal knowledge, cannot change.  When you say that it is personal knowledge, it means it is something that you know personally and which cannot change with the passage of time," the court observed.

"If that is your personal knowledge, it cannot be contradicted by yourself," the court said, noting, "Your personal knowledge is dubious."

"Right to privacy is important but why should the court entertain the petition about a person who has not come with clean hands," the bench asked.

"Is it appropriate for the court to spend hours when the petition is based on fabricated documents," the bench asked.

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