Pegasus snooping row: SC adjourns hearing of pleas for independent probe till September 13
By AsianetEditor English | First Published Sep 7, 2021, 4:43 PM ISTThe Central Government had sought time, citing “difficulty regarding the affidavit". The petitions will now be heard on September 13.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to the Centre’s request to adjourn hearing in a batch of petitions seeking a probe into the Pegasus snooping row.
The Central Government had sought time, citing “difficulty regarding the affidavit". The petitions will now be heard on September 13.
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A bench comprising the Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Bopanna was hearing a case pertaining to alleged surveillance of politicians, journalists, activists, etc., using Israeli spyware that is only sold to governments.
The petitions include those filed by Advocate ML Sharma, journalists N Ram and Sashi Kumar, the Editors Guild of India, five Pegasus targets, among others.
As the matter was taken, the Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta submitted that there was some difficulty in filing the affidavit as some officers
“There is some difficulty with the affidavit. We had filed one and you had enquired if we want to file another one, some officers were not there...if this matter can be kept on Thursday or Monday,” the law officer said. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for senior journalist N Ram, said that he does not have any objection to the request, LiveLaw reported.
Meanwhile senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for some of the petitioners, stated that he had no objection.
“List it on Monday,” the bench said, the report said.
The Pegasus controversy erupted on July 18 after The Wire and several other international publications published reports about the mobile numbers which were potential targets of the spyware service given by NSO company to various governments, including India. 40 Indian journalists, political leaders like Rahul Gandhi, election strategist Prashant Kishore, former ECI member Ashok Lavassa etc are reported to be in the list of targets, as per The Wire.
Several petitions were thereafter filed before the Top Court seeking independent probe into the matter, notice whereupon is yet to be issued. However, the Top Court has expressed concern over the alleged incident, saying that no doubt, the allegations are serious, if the reports are true. "Truth has to come out, that's a different story. We don't know whose names are there", CJI NV Ramana said according to the LiveLaw report.
The petitions have been filed by several people including Advocate ML Sharma, journalists N Ram and Sashi Kumar, CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas, five pegasus targets (Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, SNM Abdi, Prem Shankar Jha, Rupesh Kumar Singh and Ipsa Shataksi), social activist Jagdeep Chhokkar, Narendra Kumar Mishra and the Editors Guild of India, the report said.
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