SC to take up Pegasus snooping case next week

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will hear next week a petition filed by senior journalists N Ram and Sashi Kumar seeking a judicial inquiry into the alleged surveillance of Indian citizens using the Pegasus spyware and to identify entities responsible for it. The SC on Friday agreed to taking up the case next week without specifying a date.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will next week hear a plea by senior journalists N Ram and Sashi Kumar seeking an independent probe by a sitting or a retired judge into the Pegasus snooping matter.

A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana on Friday took note of senior advocate Kapil Sibal’s submissions that the petition, which has been numbered after filing with the apex court registry, needed an urgent hearing in view of its wide ramifications.

The issue affects the freedom of citizens, the lawyer, appearing for Ram and Kumar said, and added that opposition leaders, journalists and even court staff have been put under surveillance.

“It is creating waves in India and world over,” Sibal said while pressing for an urgent hearing on the plea. “We will list it sometime in next week,” the chief justice said.

The bench agreed to Sibal’s submission that the plea be listed next week except on Tuesday and Wednesday when he will be busy in other matter. According to the plea, the alleged snooping represented an attempt by agencies and organisations to muzzle the exercise of free speech and expression of dissent in India. It seeks an investigation into the hacking of phones using the Pegasus spyware, An international media consortium has reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were on a list of potential targets for surveillance using Israeli firm NSO’s Pegasus spyware. The petition also seeks a direction to the Centre to disclose if the government or any of its agencies obtained licence for Pegasus spyware and used it, either directly or indirectly, to conduct surveillance in any manner.