Congress leaders on Thursday slammed the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) administration for ‘lying’ to the Supreme Court about Congress leader Saifuddin Soz being free and not being under detention.
Senior Advocate and Rajya Sabha member Abhishek Singhvi, who represented Mr. Soz in the top court, said if reports of restrictions are ‘factually’ established then the J&K administration is liable for “perjury and contempt of court”.
Mr Soz’s son, Salman, addressed the Supreme Court through Twitter and asked if the top court will hold the J&K administration accountable for lying or will it accept its own ‘humiliation’.
Tagging the video clip, Mr. Salman Soz tweeted, “Dear Supreme Court of India: The J&K Government lied to you. This is proof. Now, will you accept your own humiliation or hold the govt accountable? History will judge you.”
On Wednesday, responding to a habeas corpus petition filed by Mr. Soz’s wife , the J&K administration filed an affidavit to claim that the Congress leader was never placed under any restraint and was always free to move.
The Bench of Justices Arun Mishra, Vineet Saran and M.R. Shah then disposed off the plea in which Mr. Singhvi, along with advocate Sunil Fernandes, had represented the Congress leader’s wife.
However, a news report of NDTV hours later showed a video clip where Mr. Soz was heard telling TV crew in Srinagar that he was not allowed to come out of his house and how it was like being in a “Police State”.
He also asked the TV crew to show the clip to the Supreme Court.
“Depending on facts, depending on nature of limitations and restrictions on Mr. Soz, he will decide his further course of action,” Mr. Singhvi, told The Hindu .
“If factually limitations and restrictions [are] established, it would be both perjury on affidavit and contempt of court,” he said.
Several other Congress leaders also took to twitter to slam the J&K administration.
“Why has @Saifuddinsoz_ been detained? Under what law is being prevented to move out of his home? If Supreme Court does not hold Union govt. accountable for misleading it then there is no democracy left in this country,” Congress MP Manish Tewari tweeted, adding, “@Saifuddinsoz_ is right we are a Police State”.
“Will the Supreme Court see what normalcy Jammu and Kashmir means for the BJP government? #SaifuddinSoz” tweeted another Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi.
