The Supreme Court on Friday refused to order a special investigation team (SIT) to probe journalists who allegedly took payoffs and favours from AgustaWestland and its parent company, Finmeccanica, to publish in favour of the skewed multi-crore VVIP chopper deal.
A Bench of Justices Dipak Misra, A.M. Khanwilkar and Mohan M. Shantanagoudar said that ordering such a blanket investigation into the functioning of the media without any concrete evidence would be an “attack” on free speech.
"Media has been given an independent status in our democratic polity. This [petition] amounts to an attack on the media,” Justice Misra remarked orally in the hearing.
The court, however, said the investigating agencies were free to conduct a probe on certain individuals and proceed against them as per law.
The court was hearing a petition filed by noted journalist and author Hari Jaisingh that the top court should intervene in the ongoing investigation by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and direct them to submit a status report on whether the media played a role in influencing the deal for a dozen VVIP helicopters.
The CAG released a report in Parliament in August 2013, which stated that significant departures were made from the Defence Procurement Procedure Rules (DPPR) 2006 to award the Rs.3,727 crore contract for the purchase of the 12 helicopters. The petition had sought the Supreme Court to set up a commission of inquiry under the stewardship of a retired judge of the Supreme Court or any other eminent person to investigate “allegations of corruption and influence peddling in the Indian media, and to suggest corrective measures to safeguard against such ills”. Mr. Jaisingh, in his petition, said a journalist was “akin” to a public servant. The former, considering his sacredness of his duty to the public, should bear the same responsibility and show the same restraint as the latter. The journalist had based his contentions in the petition on the probe documents of the case, especially the Italian investigative report admitted and discussed in the Milan Court of Appeals.
