New Delhi sources stated that Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday demanded publication of all documents related to the Rafale aircraft deal, saying Article 19 of the Constitution ensured people's rights regarding freedom of speech and expression. Meanwhile he also said that the celebrated judgment of the US Supreme Court in 1971 in the case of the Pentagon Papers was a "complete answer" to the attorney general's arguments that the media cannot publish "so-called secret papers".
Previously on June 30, 1971, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned the Richard Nixon administration's effort to restrain 'The New York Times' and 'The Washington Post' from publishing a top secret history of the Vietnam War called the Pentagon Papers. Furthermore the government had on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that documents related to the Rafale fighter jet deal were stolen from the Defense Ministry and threatened the newspaper with the Official Secrets Act for publishing articles based on them.
Moreover those who put documents on the Rafale deal in the public domain were guilty under the act as also contempt of court, Attorney General K K Venugopal said before a three judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.
