Pegasus row: Why no criminal complaint filed under IT act, Supreme Court asks petitioners

NEW DELHI: A Supreme Court bench on Thursday heard the petitions seeking an independent probe in Pegasus snooping row.
While hearing nine separate pleas, including those filed by Editors' Guild of India and senior journalist N Ram on the issue, A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Surya Kant asked the petitioners why they have not filed a criminal complaint under IT act.
"They are all educated and resourceful people. Why did they not file a criminal complaint under Telegraph Act/Information Technology Act?," the bench asked Kapil Sibal, who is representing the petitioners in the case.
The apex court said the allegations are serious if media reports about the incident are correct.
The Supreme Court also said it is surprising that Pegasus issue came to light in 2019 and no one made any "serious attempt" to collect verifiable material about snooping. Most PILs are based on newspaper clippings of national and international media, it said.
CJI N V Ramana said question remains why a flurry of petitions are being filed two years after the incident coming to light, referring to a 2019 report in which WhatsApp claimed that Israeli spyware Pegasus was used to snoop on over two dozen academics, lawyers, journalists and Dalit activists in India.
"It is only the government which can answer this - whether the government bought it, used it and why. This spyware is a big threat to everything we stand for as a Republic," said Sibal.
An 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 NSO's Pegasus spyware.
Opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi, two union ministers -- Prahlad Singh Patel and Railways and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw -- businessman Anil Ambani, a former CBI chief, and at least 40 journalists are on the list on the leaked database of NSO. It is, however, not established that all the phones were hacked.
The government has been denying all opposition allegations in the matter.
The issue has hampered the functioning of the Parliament in the Monsoon session too, with the opposition hell bent on discussing the matter in the House.