Satya Prakash
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 16

The Supreme Court on Monday sought to know if the Union Government wanted to file an additional affidavit clarifying if Pegasus spyware was used to snoop on politicians, journalists and activists even as it said it can’t compel the Centre to file such an affidavit.

”Whatever you want to say, why don’t you file an affidavit? We will also get a clear picture,” a Bench led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta during hearing on petitions seeking an SIT probe into the alleged use of Pegasus spyware for snooping.

Mehta – who contended there was nothing to hide and the Centre will set up an expert committee to examine all aspects related to the scandal – asked if the petitioners would withdraw their petitions if the government filed an affidavit denying use of Pegasus spyware for snooping.

”I ask myself if a one-page affidavit is filed saying Pegasus was not used then will they withdraw the pleas? The answer is no,” Mehta said, adding, going into the matter on the basis of unsubstantiated reports may have “national security implications”.

”We see you don’t want to take a stand,” the CJI said, deferring the hearing to Tuesday. “If Mr Mehta decides to file an affidavit, then we have nothing to say, or we will hear all of you,” the CJI added.

Asserting that the Government wasn’t reluctant at all, Mehta said: “If it’s for fact finding, then I am all for it. But if it’s for sensationalising something which is alien to Article 32 then I can’t help it. It looks like petitioners want to go somewhere else other than what the courts want to see.”

On behalf of petitioners N Ram and others, senior advocate Kapil Sibal said the Centre’s affidavit didn’t clarify if the government or its agencies had used the spyware. “We don’t want the government, which might have used Pegasus or its agencies might have used it, to set up a committee on its own,” Sibal said.

Sibal said countries such as Israel and France have started probes and the Indian government was saying, “Everything is fine”.

An international media consortium had reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were on the list of potential targets for surveillance using Pegasus spyware. It had also been reported that phones of a former judge of the Supreme Court and its registrars were allegedly intercepted using the spyware.

In its affidavit, however, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on Monday unequivocally denied the allegations levelled by various petitioners who have demanded an SIT probe into the matter even as it talked of setting up an expert panel to look into the matter.

It said: “With a view to dispel any wrong narrative spread by certain vested interests and with an object of examining the issues raised, the Union of India will constitute a Committee of Experts in the field which will go into all aspects of the issue”.

Opposing the petitions, the Centre said, “A bare perusal of the captioned petition and other connected petitions makes it clear that the same are based on conjectures and surmises or on other unsubstantiated media reports or incomplete or uncorroborated material. It is submitted that the same cannot be the basis for invoking the writ jurisdiction of this Hon’ble Court”.

The questions surrounding the Pegasus scandal had already been clarified by Communications and Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in Parliament, the Centre submitted.