One of the unending sources of mirth for me has been how short public memory is and how often people forget incidents that have taken place even a few years ago. Many people have already forgotten dark decade of UPA from 2004-2014. Amongst many disastrous decisions that UPA government chose to make, amendment of Information Technology act to add section of 66 A was most reflective of their fascist tendencies.  It was passed without discussion in the parliament.  This draconian and absurd law sought to punish anyone who posts any information that is ‘grossly offensive or has menacing character’ or sends any false information that causes annoyance, inconvenience or ill will to anyone. Any person found guilty would be sent to jail for three years. The law as arbitrary as it was, did not tell you what is ‘offensive and menacing’.

Kapil Sibal was the godfather of this law which was colloquially referred to as Sibal’s law since he was its biggest proponent. Hiding behind the veil of 66A, anybody could be sent to jail if he/she posted anything that caused ‘annoyance or inconvenience’ to anybody at all.  No one knew what the definition of ‘annoyance or inconvenience’ was.  

The nightmare of 66A came back to me when I heard that Kapil Sibal has threatened to sue Op India, a popular website that routinely fact checks news stories and exposes slant and bias in the media. Op India had earned Kapil Sibal’s  ‘annoyance or inconvenience’ because they asked him a few questions which he did not want to answer nor did he want the questions to be put in the public domain.

According to Op India’s investigation, Kapil Sibal has allegedly acquired land in Delhi at a significantly reduced price from someone called Piyoosh Goyal who is accused of money laundering. Op India report says that Sibal acquired the land for mere 1 lakh by getting ownership of a company called Grand Castello and therefore ownership of the land from a known money launderer who is under the CBI scanner. The entire transaction was done while Sibal was a minister in the UPA government. An independent investigation done by Daily Maverick, South Africa based media house also finds links between Goyal, Sibal and Gupta brothers. Gupta family is accused in multiple corruption cases responsible for downfall of South African President Jacob Zuma. Everything when put together stinks of corruption, money laundering and abuse of constitutional office since the transaction was done while Sibal was the Union Minister.

Op India sought to get Sibal’s views before running the story which Sibal ignored. Once the story broke, Sibal did admit he bought the company Grand Castello via legal means and with taxable income. Few months ago, he had denied owning or holding any directorship in Grand Castello when South African investigative journalist Craig McKune had reached out to him for answers.

The web of deceit, money laundering, corruption is hard to miss if you put all investigative reports of McKune, email details and publicly known information together which is what Op India has done.  To what extent is Kapil Sibal involved and what relationship he shared with Goyal is something Sibal should answer and therefore set the record straight in the public domain. Instead he has threatened to file a defamation suit against Op India.

That Sibal has resorted to intimidation does not come as a surprise to those of us who have seen Sibal advocating 66 A during UPA years. When in power he argued to put in jail anyone who caused ‘annoyance or inconvenience’ – a law so arbitrary that it claimed many victims for merely putting their thoughts on Social Media. When out of power, Sibal changed colors like a true chameleon and while appearing for leftist portal ‘The Wire’ in a case of defamation, he argued that defamation proceedings or gag orders should not be used to ‘throttle journalism’. My life learning has been to always judge a person by how he treats you when he has all the power.

Sibal while appearing for the leftist portal spoke about freedom of press only when it suited him and now promptly has gone on to threaten a media organization when he was himself caught  in the line of fire. The question that can be asked to Sibal is the same that he asked in the Supreme Court during the hearing of the petition by The Wire against a Gujarat High Court decision. Should Journalism be throttled out of intimidation of defamation law suits? 

Kapil Sibal of infamous 66 A is the same as Kapil Sibal threatening Op India. In between the avatar that was assumed while defending ideological compatriots, The Wire was that of an opportunist seeking to use Freedom of Press card to save those who are seen as ‘favorable media’.  As former Union Minister and responsible senior politician Kapil Sibal should answer all the questions that have been put out in public domain and understand that true journalism will thrive in Indian democracy only when politicians like him don’t use FOE card to save their comrades and promptly bring defamation suits on others to throttle journalism.