Congress today voiced “deep disappointment” over the Supreme Court judgement dismissing sacked IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt’s petition against the Gujarat government.
“We are deeply disappointed with the judgement of the Supreme Court. It’s a matter of sorrow that the apex court has given such a judgement,” Congress spokesperson RPN Singh told reporters at the AICC briefing.
The Congress remarks came a day after sacked Gujarat cadre IPS officer Bhatt was rebuked by the apex court for his conduct of contacting opposition Congress party, NGOs and their activists to influence it.
Singh said neither the Congress party nor the NGOs were party in the petition filed before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court yesterday also said that Bhatt had not come up with “clean hands” to question the lodging of criminal cases against him.
The apex court dismissed his petitions seeking a court -monitored SIT probe in relation to the two FIRs against him for allegedly forcing his subordinate to file an affidavit in a 2002 riots case and hacking e-mail of a senior law officer, who is now an Additional Solicitor General.
Meanwhile, on the issue of Uniform Civil Code, the Congress spokesperson struck a note of caution and said the government should not to “use it for divisive politics”.
“I will request the government not to use the issue of Uniform Civil Code for its divisive politics. This is a very sensitive issue,” Singh said.
He reminded that none of the non-Congress governments took up the Shah Bano issue further after criticising the Congress government’s decision to reverse in 1986 the Supreme Court order regarding the controversial maintenance lawsuit.
“These are very sensitive issues… It should be taken care that it does not have a divisive face,” Singh said, adding that care should be taken that no community is affected by it.
His remarks came a day after Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda yesterday said that a Uniform Civil Code was necessary for national integration but any decision to bring it could be taken only after wider consultations.
The Minister also said that he would consult the Prime Minister, his Cabinet colleagues and top law officers before government files its affidavit in the apex court in this regard.