Centre Denies Pegasus Allegations, Tells SC It’ll Set Up Committee To Probe Issue
Mumbai: The Centre on Monday “unequivocally” denied all allegations made by petitioners about the government using Pegasus spyware to snoop on journalists, Opposition leaders, etc.
The government said it’ll set up a committee of experts to probe the matter.
A bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose gave the Center 10 days to make appointments to the tribunals despite the recommendations of the selection committees.
The top court is hearing several petitions, including those filed by the Editors Guild of India, seeking an independent probe into the alleged Pegasus espionage case.
In the affidavit, the Center “categorically denied” all the allegations levelled against it by the petitioners, led by journalist N Ram, about using military-grade spyware to spy on journalists, politicians, activists and court staff.
The PILs of N Ram, Yashwant Sinha, Editors Guild and seven others have been created “on the basis of conjectures and conjectures or other baseless media reports or incomplete or unconfirmed material”, the Center said in a two-page affidavit filed by the Additional Chief Justice of India. Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that such material cannot be a ground for filing a PIL.
An international media association recently reported that more than 300 verified mobile phone numbers in India, including those of two current ministers, over 40 journalists, three opposition leaders and one sitting judge besides scores of businesspersons and activists in India could have been allegedly targeted for hacking through Israeli Pegasus spyware sold only to government agencies.
Earlier, during the hearing of the matter, the apex court had said that allegations of Pegasus related snooping are “serious in nature” if reports on them are correct.
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