SC lifts gag order on Amar tapes

The Supreme Court on Wednesday lifted a 2006 gag order on publication of some controversial tapes of tapped phone conversation of former Samajwadi Party stalwart Amar Singh, paying their way to the media for public consumption now.

The tapped phone conversations were allegedly between Singh with senior political leaders and some Bollywood stars.

The court while lifting the gag order said “there has been suppression of facts by Amar Singh in the case”.

“Amar Singh may proceed against the telecom operator for illegally tapping his phone,” the court said.

On February 27, 2006, the Supreme Court had restrained the electronic and the print media from airing or publishing the tapes when Singh appealed to the court to seek a probe into the illegal phone tapping and also blamed it on the Congress party.

The petition for lifting the gag order was filed by Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL).