Snooping claims, if correct, serious: SC
No doubt the allegations are serious in nature if the reports are correct... There have to be some verifiable reports etc before we entertain it SUPREME COURT
NEW DELHI: Allegations of Pegasus related snooping are “serious in nature” if reports on them are correct, the Supreme Court said on Thursday, and agreed to seek a response from the Union government on a clutch of petitions that have demanded a courtmonitored independent investigation into the alleged surveillance of Indian citizens using the Israeli spyware and to identify the entities responsible for this.
“Let somebody appear for the Union of India to accept notice in the matter,” said a bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana, while fixing August 10 as the next date of hearing on a bunch of nine petitions listed before it.
The bench, which also included justice Surya Kant, asked the petitioners to serve copies of their pleadings on the Government of India to ensure that a law officer remains present in the court on August 10. “The matter has gotten complicated with too many petitions. Some have challenged the vires of the Information Technology law also. Let someone appear on behalf of the Centre and then we will see,” it told the lawyers appearing for the petitioners.
The petitioners in the case are advocate ML Sharma, Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas, the Editors Guild of India (EGI), journalists N Ram, Sashi Kumar, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Rupesh Kumar Singh, Ipshita Shatakshi, SNM Abdi, Prem Shankar Jha, civil rights activists Jagdeep S Chhokar and Narendra Mishra.
Pegasus row erupted on July 18 after an international investigative consortium reported that many Indian ministers, politicians, activists, businessmen and journalists were among the 50,000 numbers that were potentially targeted by the Israeli company NSO Group’s phone hacking software. According to this consortium, Pegasus can switch on a target’s phone camera and microphone, as well as
RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday raged against a supreme court investigation into his conduct and threatened to respond outside the limits of the constitution, escalating the clash between the far-right leader and the judiciary.
Bolsonaro’s comments came after supreme court justice Alexandre de Moraes approved an investigation into the president’s unfounded accusations that Brazil’s electronic voting system is vulnerable to fraud.
“This investigation is not within the bounds of the constitution, so the antidote to this is also not within the bounds of the constitution,” Bolsonaro said on social media, without specifying further the nature of the threat.
Bolsonaro, who is expected to seek a second term in 2022, has repeatedly said Brazil’s electronic voting system is vulnerable to fraud without providing evidence. Critics say Bolsonaro, like former US president Donald Trump, is sowing doubts in case he loses in 2022.
He has already threatened not to accept the result if the system is not changed.
Bolsonaro is calling for adoption of printed receipts that can be counted if any election result is disputed, a paper trail that would change the current allelectronic voting system. A proposal to that effect is currently with Congress, with a committee set to vote on it on Thursday.