New Delhi, April 10: After the Supreme Court on Wednesday said the 'stolen' documents related to the Rafale deal are admissible as evidence in court, the Defence Ministry expressed concerns over the availability of 'classified information related to national security' in public domain. The Defence Minister also said the petitioners through the documents were presenting 'selective and incomplete' picture.

"The government had provided requisite information as desired by the Supreme Court and also provided all records and files as required by the CAG. The main concern of the Government is relating to the availability of sensitive and classified information concerning National Security in the public domain," the Defence Ministry said, as reported by the news agency ANI. The ministry further accuses the petitioners of endangering national security. Rafale Deal Documents Stolen From Defence Ministry, 'The Hindu' Story Violates Official Secrets Act: A-G Tells Supreme Court.

"It's reiterated that petitioners are using documents with intention to present a selective and incomplete picture of internal secret deliberations on a matter relating to National Security and Defence. The documents presented by the petitioners are failing to bring out how the issues were addressed and resolved and necessary approvals of the competent authorities taken," the ministry said.

The Supreme Court in a unanimous judgment on Wednesday rejected the preliminary objections raised by the central government and said the documents sourced from the Defence Ministry by the media without authorisation will be used as evidence. The apex court rejected the Centre's claim of privilege over the three documents that were annexed by the former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, journalist Arun Shourie and lawyer Prashant Bhushan in their plea.

The petition sought the recall and review of 2018 judgment giving a clean chit to the government for acquiring 36 ready to fly Rafale fighter jets. The Hindu newspaper published a series of reports claiming that "parallel negotiations" were carried out by the Prime Minister's Office. The Hindu published documents sourced from the Defence Ministry to back its claims. One of the reports, published by the newspaper, said the deal became more expensive for India because of France's refusal to provide bank guarantees.

The government had termed the documents stolen but later backtracked and changed its stance, calling them "unauthorisedly photocopied". The government had then moved a plea seeking removal of three "privileged" documents from the case records.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 10, 2019 04:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).