Plea filed in SC for NIA probe into 2008 MoU between Congress and Communist Party of China

A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking an NIA or CBI probe into 2008 agreements signed by the Congress party and the Communist Party of China, saying details of Memorandum of Understandings were not yet revealed, in violation of right to life of citizens.

Petitioners advocate Shashank Shekhar Jha and journalist Savio Rodrigues, in their joint plea, sought transparency and clarify on the agreement signed on August 7, 2008 in Beijing for "exchanging high-level information and co-operation between them". The MoU also provided the two parties with the “opportunity to consult each other on important bilateral, regional and international developments”.

They named Congress party, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and the Union government as parties to the petition. This comes at a time amid tension between India and China as their troops were involved into bloody clash along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh, leading to martyrdom of 20 Indian soldiers.

They cited news report stating that there were about 600 intrusions and face-off on China's side of border between 2008 and 2013, making it all the more necessary to disclose details of the agreements.

"Despite having a hostile relation with China, Sonia Gandhi had signed an agreement when it was heading the coalition government and hidden the facts and details from the country. The party, which passed the Right to Information Act during its rule, failed to be transparent in this matter which is of national importance," their plea said.

They said the true spirit of liberty, equality, and fraternity could be achieved through medium of transparency and proper investigation, which could be achieved only if the agreement was investigated and secured by National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.