New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the government of India on a batch of petitions seeking various prayers including a court-monitored probe, a judicial inquiry & directions to the government to reveal details about whether it had used the Pegasus software to spy on citizens.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana sought the Centre’s response on the pleas and said it will take up the matter after 10 days and see what course should be adopted.
Also Read|Delhi HC Seeks Status Report From Crime Branch On 9-Yr-Old Rape-Murder Case In Nangal
While hearing the matter, the Supreme Court said, "For the defence of the nation, we're not going to disclose anything. Some persons of eminence are alleging snooping of phones, now this can also be done but only with permission of the competent authority."
Responding to the court's question Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that the government of India doesn't mind revealing the details before an expert group but discussing such things in public can be a threat to national security.
SG Tushar Mehta said, "We're all in our own right responsible citizens. Govt doesn't mind saying it before an expert group. Suppose a terror org uses technology to communicate with sleeper cells and we say we're not using Pegasus, they'll modulate apparatus in a way that it's not Pegasus compatible."
“We can divulge this to a committee of experts and it'll be a neutral body. Would you as a constitutional court expect such issues to be divulged before the court and put up for public debate? The committee will place its report before the court. But how can we sensationalise the issue,” the SG argued.
To this, the Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice NV Ramana asserted that it is nobody’s intention to compromise with national security.
“We as a court and you as the SG and all lawyers as officers of the court, none of us would like to compromise with the security of the nation. For the defence of the nation, we're not going to disclose anything. What's the problem if the authority files an affidavit before us?” the court asked.
The Court was hearing a bunch of petitions filed by Adv ML Sharma, journalists N Ram & Sashikumar, and some other opposition leaders and advocates including the one filed by the Editors Guild.
They are related to reports of alleged snooping by government agencies on eminent citizens, politicians, and scribes by using Israeli firm NSO''s spyware Pegasus.
An international media consortium has reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were on the list of potential targets for surveillance using Pegasus spyware