Bengal govt defends panel on Pegasus row

QUESTIONS THE MOTIVE BEHIND THE PLEA BY THE NGO, CONTENDS THE PLEA IS FILED WITH THE INTENT TO OBSTRUCT ANY INDEPENDENT INQUIRY

NEW DELHI: Calling the Union government “non-committal and evasive”, the West Bengal government has justified before the Supreme Court the setting up of a two-member Commission of Inquiry, headed by retired judge Madan B Lokur, to probe into the alleged surveillance of Indian citizens using Israeli Pegasus spyware. The state said that the commission it constituted will “put into place effective countermeasures against any rogue foreign spyware”.

Submitting its affidavit in response to a petition by NGO Global Village Foundation Public Charitable Trust for disbanding the commission, the Mamata Banerjee-led government also questioned the motive behind the plea, claiming that the trustee and chairman of the NGO had close links with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliate, Swadeshi Jagran Manch. “It cannot be disputed that the RSS and the Swadeshi Jagran Manch and the ruling party at the Centre, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) are affiliates and have often vilified the state government for political gains,” stated the affidavit, contending that the petition is filed with the intent to obstruct any independent inquiry into the matter.

Imploring the court to dismiss the NGO’S petition citing its alleged association with the BJP and RSS, the Bengal government underlined that “the higher echelons of the BJP have either publicly expressed their disapproval over the need for any independent inquiry on the ‘Pegasus’ issue or have been conspicuously silent on the subject matter despite massive public uproar.”

On August 18, a bench, headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, had agreed to examine the NGO’S petition, argued by advocate Saurabh Mishra who had also asked for an immediate stay on proceedings before justice Lokur’s commission to avoid any parallel inquiry. The court, which had issued notices to the Centre and the West Bengal government, will hear the matter on

Wednesday.

Responding to the plea, the West Bengal government maintained that given the potential ramifications of the media reports on the fundamental right to privacy, independence of public institutions and the preservation of democracy, “the State Government could not sit as a silent spectator particularly when the Union Government was not only non-committal and evasive on the subject but had also at the very threshold dismissed the allegations under the rubric of sensationalism.”

The state said that while the intent behind the Commission of Inquiry was neither to have a parallel inquiry into the matter nor was it to overreach the proceedings pending before the top court in a clutch of petitions, the commission can coexist with the proceedings.