 investigation into the 2008 agreement between Congress and the Communist Party of China, asked: “How can a political party enter into an agreement with China?"){kind=link}
New Delhi: The Supreme Court today, while hearing a plea seeking National Investigation Agency (NIA) investigation into the 2008 agreement between Congress and the Communist Party of China, asked: “How can a political party enter into an agreement with China?”
The bench, comprising Chief justice SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, was hearing a petition filed by advocate Shashank Shekhar Jha and journalist Savio Rodrigues, seeking investigation under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act by the NIA into a 2008 agreement signed between the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Communist Party of China in Beijing for exchanging high-level information and co-operation between them.
The bench, while allowing the petitioner to withdraw the petition and approach the high court, said that the averments made by the petitioner in his petition were unheard of and absurd.
The petitioners had submitted that according to various media reports, “there occurred multiple intrusions/face-offs (nearly around 600) between 2008 to 2013 from China’s side into India when the UPA was ruling the nation. And it is a matter of record that the MoU signed between China and Respondent No. 1 was a political party-to-party agreement, despite the fact that both were ruling parties. This may have matter involving national importance.”
The petitioners also alleged that despite having hostile relations with China, the INC signed an agreement when it was ruling with a coalition government and never declared the details of the agreement to the country.
Read Also: SC asks Centre if there is a possibility of 4G internet restoration in some parts of J&K
Hence, it was urged that “the true spirit of liberty, equality, and fraternity could be achieved through a medium of transparency and proper investigation and just judgment which could be achieved only if the agreement is investigated and secured by National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.”
– India Legal Bureau