Supreme Court to hear plea for spyware snoop probe: petitions seeking a court-monitored probe into the Pegasus snooping allegations would be heard next week.

An investigation by an international media collaboration has led to allegations that the Indian govt illegally snooped on judges, journalists, politicians and rights activist

The bench, which included Justice Surya Kant, did not mention a date but the matter is expected to come up in the first half of next week, most probably on Monday or Tuesday.

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Legal Correspondent   |   TT  |   New Delhi   |   31.07.21: Chief Justice N.V. Ramana on Friday said the petitions seeking a court-monitored probe into the Pegasus snooping allegations would be heard next week.

The bench, which included Justice Surya Kant, did not mention a date but the matter is expected to come up in the first half of next week, most probably on Monday or Tuesday.

“We will take it up next week,” Justice Ramana assured senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi. The two lawyers were representing journalists N. Ram and Sashi Kumar, founder of Malayalam TV channel Asianet, who are among the petitioners seeking a court-monitored special investigation team (SIT) probe.

An investigation by an international collaboration of media organisations has led to allegations that the Indian government illegally snooped on judges, journalists, politicians, rights activist and other Indian citizens via the Israeli spyware Pegasus.

The Centre has denied the possibility of any illegal surveillance while desisting from saying whether it had bought the Pegasus software, sold only to governments and government agencies.

On Thursday, over 500 citizens, who included eminent rights defenders, wrote an open letter to Justice Ramana seeking the apex court’s immediate intervention to demand answers from the Centre on the matter.

The signatories cited the CJI’s recent address at an Indo-Singapore Mediation summit where he had said that India’s people “know that when things go wrong, the judiciary will stand by them”.

Ram and Kumar moved their joint petition — the third on the matter — on July 27. They have argued that the alleged snooping violated citizens’ fundamental right to life, liberty and privacy as guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Appearing on behalf of Ram, Sibal on Friday urged Justice Ramana to list the matter for urgent hearing, saying the issue had “huge ramifications” for national security and civil liberties.

“Opposition leaders, journalists, members of the judiciary are being snooped (on). This is an urgent matter, making waves not just in India but internationally. Your Lordships may list the matter for urgent hearing,” Sibal said.

Singhvi supported Sibal’s submission and complained that the registry was not listing matters even for urgent mentioning.

An advocate, Manohar Lal Sharma, had filed the first petition on the matter on July 22, arguing the alleged surveillance not just violated privacy but threatened national security through the use of foreign spyware to snoop on Indians.

Sharma also raised the subject of the funding of the alleged purchase of Pegasus, saying Articles 266(3), 267(2) and 283(2) of the Constitution state that the government cannot appropriate the country’s consolidated or contingency funds without legislative permission.

He further argued that snooping on citizens’ personal data violated Sections 65, 66 and 72 of the Information Technology Act, read with Section 3 of the Official Secrets Act.

CPM Rajya Sabha member John Brittas then moved another petition seeking a court-monitored investigation, arguing the alleged surveillance would otherwise have a “chilling effect” on dissenters against the government.

He said that though questions had been asked in Parliament about the alleged phone-hacking, the government had neither denied nor admitted to the snooping.