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Australia's top court directs news website to remove sensitive data related to India's Scorpene submarines

Xinhua, August 30, 2016 Adjust font size:

Australian apex court has directed a news organisation to remove all sensitive data related to Scorpene submarines from its website and stop from publishing further information on the project, India's state-run broadcaster All India Radio (AIR) said Tuesday.

"The temporary order expires on Thursday as the Australian Supreme Court is set to hear the case on Sept. 1," the broadcaster said.

French shipbuilder DCNS has approached Australian court seeking an injunction against news website "The Australian" over the publication of data related to Scorpene submarines.

Last week, "The Australian" uploaded data pertaining to India's Scorpene submarines. The data leak revealed the detailed information about the combat capability and operating instructions of underwater warfare system of the six Scorpene submarines being built by DCNS in India.

The massive data leak of more than 22,000 classified pages has hit the DCNS.

DCNS lawyer Justine Munsie in affidavit to the court submitted that publication of highly valuable document has been causing a direct harm to DCNS and its customer in terms of spread of sensitive and restricted information, image and reputation.

The newspaper according to reports was contemplating to publish further documents regarding the weapons system of the submarine.

Indian Navy following the leak stated the documents posted by the Australian news website pertaining to Scorpene submarines do not pose any "security compromise" as the "vital parameters have been blacked out".

However, it said they have taken up the matter with Director General of Armament of the French Government expressing concern over this incident and asked for an investigation into the leak.

Indian Navy has also ordered an internal audit of procedures to rule out any security compromise after India's Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar sought a report from the Indian Navy chief on the leak.

"Leak of information related to Scorpene submarine is a matter of serious concern and we have asked French Defense firm DCNS to launch an urgent investigation," India Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba told media on Monday.

"The committee will be headed by deputy chief of Naval Staff Admiral Ashok Kumar and based on the report of the committee, Navy will see what mitigation measures need to be taken."

So far, it is unclear whether the leak occurred in India or in France and how the Australian media obtained the confidential documents.

India signed a 3.5 billion U.S. dollars deal with French manufacturer DCNS for six Scorpene submarines in 2005 to be built in Mumbai with an Indian government-owned shipbuilder. Endit