Australian court stops further publication of leaked scorpene data

The newspaper which had earlier said it will publish the documents regarding the weapons system of the submarine on Monday but had not done so.

New Delhi: An Australian Court on Monday granted temporary injunction against further publication of leaked Scorpene submarine data by 'The Australian' newspaper on an application moved by French defence firm DCNS that has been rocked by the document leak scandal.

The newspaper, which said the temporary injunction was granted by the court, had earlier said that it will publish the documents regarding the weapons system of the submarine on Monday but had not done so.

"DCNS, through the application filed, has demanded The Australian to remove the documents which it has published on its website and prevent further publishing of other documents," the company's headquarters in Paris said in a statement earlier in the day.

The firm's lawyer had yesterday told the newspaper that the publication of this "highly valuable document" causes a direct harm to DCNS and its customer in terms of spread of sensitive and restricted information, image and reputation.

Over 22,000 pages of top secret data on the capabilities of six highly advanced submarines being built for the Indian Navy in Mumbai in collaboration with the French company, have been leaked.

The French public prosecutor has opened a preliminary investigation into the data leak, with DCNS filing a complaint of breach of trust.