Supreme Court to pronounce order on Pegasus snooping case tomorrow
The Supreme Court had reserved its order in the matter on September 13. CJI NV Ramana-led bench will be delivering the order tomorrow.
FollowThe Supreme Court will pronounce its order in a batch of petitions seeking court-monitored probe into unauthorised surveillance using the Pegasus software made by an Israeli firm NSO Group on Wednesday.
On September 23, the Chief Justice of India had said that the Court was thinking of setting up a technical committee to look into the allegations of snooping of journalists, activists, politicians etc., using the Pegasus spyware developed by the Israeli company NSO. The CJI had said that the order was getting delayed due to difficulties in identifying persons willing to be part of the technical committee, LiveLaw reported.
The Supreme Court had reserved its order in the matter on September 13. CJI NV Ramana-led bench will be delivering the order tomorrow.
The Centre has “unequivocally” denied all allegations regarding illegal surveillance. In a brief affidavit on August 15, it had told the Supreme Court that, nevertheless, “with a view to dispel any wrong narrative spread by certain vested interests and with an object of examining the issues raised”, it would set up “a Committee of Experts in the field which will go into all aspects of the issue”.
A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli had said it only wanted to know whether or not the Centre used the Pegasus spyware through illegal methods to allegedly snoop on citizens. Citing national security, the Centre had refused to file a detailed affidavit in the matter.
The petitioners had pointed out that the Centre’s affidavit did not disclose whether it had purchased or used Pegasus or not.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Centre had then told the Bench that the matter was related to national security, and hence cannot be made a subject matter of a judicial debate or public discourse. He said that the Government cannot reveal on affidavit whether it has used any particular software for security purposes, as it will alert terror groups.
