NEW DELHI: Expressing reservations over reopening of the 2005 Bofors gun kickback case, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the petitioner to prove his locus standi in the case, which had once implicated the late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, among others.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra questioned the locus standi of a private litigant — BJP leader and lawyer Ajay Agarwal — in the case, asking how a criminal case can be reopened at the instance of a third party. “How can you maintain a petition when the CBI has not filed an appeal? What can be your locus? This has become a national problem now. Even in a criminal case, a third party seeks to intervene as if it is a PIL,” the bench remarked.
The bench, hearing Agarwal, who has sought to challenge the 2005 Delhi High Court order that quashed an FIR in the matter, expressed concern over as to how nowadays courts are being used for political battles and publicity, and hence, said that it was necessary to just stick to the law.
However, Agrawal said he as a public-spirited citizen should be allowed to argue the case since no crime should go unpunished.“We can’t allow anyone and everyone to enter in criminal cases. That is not the criminal law jurisprudence. You will have to satisfy us within the parameters of the law,” the bench said.