Rafale: Basis of SC judgment is “more than one untruth”, petitioners seek perjury proceedings against Centre’s officials

Petitioners in the Rafale case, Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and Prashant Bhushan, have moved the Supreme Court seeking initiation of perjury proceedings against officials of the Central government responsible for submitting allegedly false/misleading information to the Supreme Court in sealed covers..The application filed under Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) seeks initiation of proceedings under Section 195 of CrPC for offences punishable under Section 193 of Indian Penal Code (IPC)..Section 193 of IPC provides for punishment for false evidence and Section 195 of CrPC provides for prosecution for contempt of lawful authority of public servants, for offences against public justice and for offences relating to documents given in evidence..The application states that information that has come into the public domain after the judgment of the Supreme Court was delivered prima facie shows that the government ‘misled’ the Court on various occasions. The application also states that the basis of the judgment of the Court is based on “more than one untruth submitted by the government and suppression of pertinent information.”.The untruths and suppression of information constitute perjury and also contempt, as the ‘notes’ were submitted pursuant to the orders of the Court, the application states..Due to the suppression of information by government officials, the Court was deprived of having the full set of facts before it in order to decide the bona fides of the procurement of 36 Rafale jets, the applicants contend..The applicants have submitted that it is of paramount importance that persons who misled the Court be identified and suitably dealt with, so as to uphold the sanctity of the judicial proceedings of the Court..“Submitting untruths and suppressing information despite clear orders of Hon’ble Court is brazen and wilful.”.The application then sets out in a tabular format, the alleged false statements made in the sealed cover by the Central government and how the same influenced the judgment of the Court..The petitioners have prayed for the following:.Direct an inquiry to be made to identify the persons in the Government of India responsible for filing notes (in sealed cover or otherwise) containing false and/or misleading information intended to mislead this Hon’ble Court..Cause a complaint to be made in exercise of the power u/s 340 r/w 195 of Cr.PC before the magistrate of competent jurisdiction to initiate the perjury proceedings against the persons so identified..Read the application below.