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Amar tapes: SC lifts gag order
R Sedhuraman
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, May 11
The Supreme Court today dismissed a PIL filed by former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh seeking protection of his fundamental right to privacy, which was allegedly invaded by tapping of his telephones in 2005-06.

A Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly rejected the PIL after reprimanding Singh for filing the “frivolous and speculative” petition and for “shifting his stand to suit his convenience” time and again.

The Bench had earlier passed an order, restraining the media from publishing the taped conversations. In today’s verdict, the Bench clarified that all the earlier orders stood vacated, thus allowing publication of the contents of the conversations that had been recorded in the course of the tapping.

The Supreme Court noted that initially Singh had alleged that his telephone calls were being monitored by the Home Ministry through the Delhi Police at the instance of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.