Re-examine Tehelka: Jaya

NEW DELHI: Former Samata Party (SP) president Jaya Jaitley demanded on Wednesday a re-examination of the Tehelka tapes in the light of the recent sting operation by Live India channel on Delhi teacher Uma Khurana which turned out to be fake and said journalists are not law-enforcing agencies.

Jaitley, who had to quit after Tehelka showed her taking bribe in an arms deal in 2001, claimed the methodology adopted by Tehelka and Live India was the same.

Jaitley said Tehelka was the “baap (father) of sting operations” in India, the “methodology used by it was patently dishonest”.  Terming it a copycat crime, the former SP chief said, “Like in the Khurana case, Tehelka also wanted to make a story, used a person to pose as a call girl and so on.

“It was not a real happening event, they staged it,” Jaitley said, questioning the “double standards” adopted in the Tehelka expose and the Khurana sting operation. Jaitley said she was against sting operations and that India should follow the US where only the FBI is allowed to conduct stings.

“We are all aping the Americans on so many counts, but the US does not allow sting operations. If anybody has information on corruption, it lets the CBI do the sting,” she said, adding, “Journalists are not law-enforcing agencies.”

Jaitley also came down heavily on the proposed broadcast bill intended to, inter alia, restrain the media from conducting stings.

Lambasting information and broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi for authoring the “dangerous” broadcast bill to curb stings, she said: “Dasmunsi carried the Tehelka tape to parliament announcing  sarkar gayi (the NDA govt is gone). The same Dasmunsi is now pushing the bill.”

“They (the government) are using the Khurana issue to throttle the media. The bill will be extremely dangerous for the media,” she said, adding that though she herself is a victim of a sting operation, she would not back the government's “draconian” move.

“The Tehelka people are today enjoying government largesse, while Live India is under attack and the government is using the event to stifle the entire media,” Jaitley said.

Jaitley, then defence minister George Fernandes and then BJP president Bangaru Laxman were forced to quit their positions in the wake of the Tehelka expose in 2001.