New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear a file of petitions seeking a court-monitored investigation into the government supposedly using Pegasus spyware to observe politicians, journalists and activists on August 5.
The bench led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justice Surya Kant will hear the plea filed by senior journalist N Ram and Sashi Kumar, Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas and advocate ML Sharma on August 5.
The plea directed the Government of India or any of its agencies to reveal if any of them uses the Israeli software Pegasus to investigate the Indian citizens; moreover, the plea directs to hold an enquiry to examine the extent of investigation done on the Indian citizens.
“Targeted spying using military-grade spyware is an unacceptable violation of the right to privacy under Article 14, 19 and 21 by the Supreme Court.” the plea stated.
The plea added, “Spying the targeted journalists, activists and politician is against the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a).”
Moreover, the pleader claimed that several leading publications disclose that more than 142 Indians, including journalists, lawyers, ministers, opposition politicians, constitutional functionaries, and civil society activists, have been identified as targets for surveillance using Pegasus software.
MP John Brittas, in his petition, seeks a court-monitored investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the Government of India using Pegasus software to spy on people. It alleged that despite all the petitions, the government of India didn’t care to investigate the matter seriously.
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