'Rafale documents have not been stolen'

Police try to stop the West Bengal Pradesh Youth Congress workers, who were staging a protest over the Centre's disclosure in the SC that documents related to Rafale deal have been stolen, in Kolkata. Pic/PTI

Chennai: The documents pertaining to the purchase of Rafale fighter jets based on which articles were published in The Hindu were not stolen and the sources which provided them will not be revealed, said N Ram, chairman of The Hindu Group of Publications.

Contrasting the days when he wrote extensively on the kickbacks paid in the Bofors gun deal, Ram said no threats were then made to him or to The Hindu like invoking the Official Secrets Act, as it was being done by the Modi government.

On Wednesday, Attorney General K K Venugopal told the Supreme Court that the Rafale deal documents had been stolen from the government and those publishing them were guilty under the Official Secrets Act. Speaking to the media on Thursday, Ram said the bogey of stolen documents was raised during WiKi leaks, Pentagon Papers and other issues as well.

Scribes condemn government's stand
The Editors Guild of India and other media bodies on Thursday condemned the government's stand before the Supreme Court on the Rafale deal reportage, and said any attempt to use the Official Secrets Act against the media was reprehensible.

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