The Delhi High Court observed that Siddharth Varadarajan, the founding Editor of The Wire, is prima facie guilty of suppressing material facts relating to bail conditions imposed on him by the Allahabad High Court in his plea seeking an OCI card.
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav has directed Varadarajan to file an affidavit explaining his conduct and recalled its earlier order that had set aside the Central Government’s decision rejecting his request for conversion of his PIO card into an OCI card.
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, appearing for the Union Government along with CGSC Ashish Dixit, submitted that certain “disconcerting material” had surfaced after the previous hearing. Sharma argued that an order passed by the Allahabad High Court in 2020 had been conveniently suppressed by Varadarajan.
The Allahabad High Court order regarding Siddharth Varadarajan primarily centred on granting him protection from arrest (anticipatory bail) while imposing strict conditions on his personal liberty which included restricted travel, passport surrender and trial cooperation.
Counsel for the petitioner, Senior Advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, submitted that the omission was non-intentional, characterizing it as a lapse of memory where the relevant facts had ‘skipped her mind’. In response, Justice Kaurav observed that Varadarajan would have to explain his conduct through an affidavit and cautioned that serious consequences could follow.
After examining the pleadings, the Court noted that there had been no disclosure regarding the binding conditions imposed by the Allahabad High Court while granting bail to Varadarajan. The Court observed that these facts ought to have been truthfully disclosed before it.
Referring to Supreme Court precedents, the Court said that suppression of material facts by a litigant generally disqualifies a party from obtaining relief from the court. It added that the principle was evolved to prevent abuse of the judicial process.
In its earlier order, the Delhi High Court had set aside the Central Government’s rejection of Siddharth Varadarajan’s application seeking conversion of his PIO card into an OCI card, holding that the decision was unreasoned and legally unsustainable.
Recalling its earlier orders in the matter, the Court restored the petition to its original position and listed it for further hearing later this month.
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