Pegasus issue: SC to hear pleas seeking probe into snooping allegations on Aug 5

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on August 5 the pleas including the one filed by senior journalists N Ram and Sashi Kumar who have sought an independent probe by a sitting or a retired judge into the alleged Pegasus snooping matterAccording to the cause list uploaded on the apex court website a bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Surya Kant would hear on August 5 three separate petitions seeking probe into the reports of alleged snooping by government agencies on eminent citizens politicians and scribes by using Israeli spyware PegasusOn July 30 the top court had said it would hear next week the plea filed by Ram and Kumar in the matterSenior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for the senior journalists had told the court last week that the plea needed an urgent hearing in view of its wide ramificationsAccording 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 IndiaThe 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 mannerThe petitioners have claimed that investigations involving several leading publications around the world have revealed that several Indians including journalists lawyers ministers opposition politicians and activists have been identified as potential targets for surveillance using the Pegasus softwareBesides the plea filed by Ram and Kumar two separate petitions on the issue have been filed in the apex court by advocate M L Sharma and John BrittasIn his plea Sharma has sought a courtmonitored probe by a Special Investigation Team SIT into the reports of alleged snoopingAn 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 NSOs Pegasus spywareldquoThe targeted surveillance using militarygrade spyware is an unacceptable violation of the right to privacy which has been held to be a fundamental right under Articles 14 equality before the law 19 freedom of speech and expression and 21 protection of life and personal liberty by the Supreme Courtrdquo said the plea filed by the two journalistsThe hacking of phones belonging to journalists doctors lawyers activists ministers and opposition politicians ldquoseriously compromisesrdquo the effective exercise of the fundamental right to free speech and expression it saidSuch an act has an obvious chilling effect on expression by threatening invasion into the most core and private aspects of a persons life it addedAccording to the petition hacking of phones using the Pegasus spyware constituted a criminal offence punishable under Sections 66 computer related offences 66B punishment for dishonestly receiving stolen computer resource or communication device 66E punishment for violation of privacy and 66F punishment for cyberterrorism of the IT Act punishable with imprisonment andor fineThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever