Tag: N Ram

  • Unbelievable that Centre refusing to file detailed affidavit on Pegasus: Petitioners to SC

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: It is “unbelievable” that the Centre is refusing to file a detailed affidavit on a batch of pleas seeking independent probe into the alleged Pegasus snooping row, one of the petitioners argued in the Supreme Court on Monday.

    A bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana was told by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for veteran journalists N Ram and Sashi Kumar who have filed one of the pleas, that the government cannot tell the apex court to “shut your eyes”.

    “This is unbelievable that the Government of India says we will not tell the court,” Sibal told the bench, also comprising justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli.

    “The government cannot tell your lordships to shut your eyes and say we will do what we want and we will do it through an internal inquiry,” Sibal said, adding it is the bounden duty of the government to tell its citizens the factual position on the issue.

    ALSO READ| Pegasus row: Don’t wish to file detailed affidavit in larger national interest, Centre tells SC

    During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the government does not wish to file a detailed affidavit in the “larger national interest” on the pleas as such issues cannot be a subject matter of public discourse.

    Sibal said the petitioners want to know whether Israeli firm NSO’s spyware Pegasus was used in the alleged surveillance of some eminent Indians, and this does not reveal any secrets of the state or impact national security. “My friend (Mehta) says making that statement on oath itself is detrimental to national security. I am sorry, it is detrimental to the process of justice,” the senior lawyer said.

    Fundamental rights of the citizens have to be protected, he said, adding that Pegasus spyware is illegal and cannot be used. Sibal said international agencies have stated that Indians were targeted by the spyware and yesterday, Germany has also accepted that Pegasus was used for the purpose of countering terrorism.

    He said the government should not be allowed to constitute a committee of its own. Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for one of the petitioners, said the snooping has been “an assault on the democracy” and the spyware not only snoops but it may also implant some material into the devices being tracked.

    Several senior lawyers such Rakesh Dwivedi, Dinesh Dwivedi, Colin Gonsalves and Meenakshi Arora also argued in the case and demanded credible and independent probe into the snooping allegations. Arora said that a special investigation team headed by a retired judge of the apex court should be there to look into the matter.

    Advocate ML Sharma, one of the petitioners, drew the court’s ire for saying “your colleague judge” during the arguments. “What is this your colleague judge? Is this the way to address the court?,” the CJI told Sharma.

    The solicitor general also objected to Sharma’s submission and said he cannot address the court like this. “It is nor correct Mr Sharma. There is dignity in arguing the matters,” the bench said. Sharma said he wanted to say something else but he think, he gave a wrong impression.

    The bench, after hearing the submissions, said it would pass an interim order in the matter. Mehta told the bench that government has “nothing to hide” and that is why the Centre has on its own said that it will constitute a committee of domain experts who will look into these allegations.

    He said the issue whether a particular software is used or not used by the government cannot be a subject matter of public discourse as it has its “own pitfalls” and it would be better if target groups, like terror outfits, do not know what is being used to combat their activities.

    The Centre had earlier filed a limited affidavit in the top court saying the pleas seeking an independent probe into the Pegasus snooping allegations are based on “conjectures and surmises or on other unsubstantiated media reports or incomplete or uncorroborated material”.

    The pleas are related to reports of alleged snooping by government agencies on eminent citizens, politicians and scribes by using Israeli firm NSO’s spyware Pegasus. An international media consortium has reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were on the list of potential targets for surveillance using Pegasus spyware.

  • Pegasus row: SC to continue hearing batch of pleas seeking probe into alleged snooping

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a batch of petitions, including those filed by the Editors Guild of India and senior journalists N Ram and Sashi Kumar, seeking independent probe into the alleged Pegasus snooping matter.

    A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and justices Suryakant and Aniruddha Bose will continue hearing the matter.

    On August 10, the top court had taken exception over “parallel proceedings and debates” on social media by some petitioners who have sought independent probe into the alleged Pegasus snooping issue and said there must be some discipline and they must have “some faith in the system”.

    The top court had said that it would take a call on August 16 on whether to issue notice to the Centre on pleas seeking probe into the Pegasus row and emphasised that it is not against debate but when the matter is pending in the apex court it should be deliberated upon here.

    The bench had said that it expects that petitioners who are interested in the matter would answer whatever queries the court would put to them by way of proper debate “in the court and not outside”.

    Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had told the court that he needs instructions from the government on the batch of pleas.

    The apex court is hearing a batch of pleas, including the one filed by the Editors Guild of India, seeking independent probe into the alleged Pegasus snooping matter.

    They are related to reports of alleged snooping by government agencies on eminent citizens, politicians and scribes by using Israeli firm NSO’s spyware Pegasus.

    An international media consortium has reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were on the list of potential targets for surveillance using Pegasus spyware.

    Earlier, during the hearing of the matter, the top court had said that allegations of Pegasus related snooping are “serious in nature” if reports on them are correct.

    It had also asked the petitioners whether they had made any efforts to file a criminal complaint on this.

    The apex court, which had asked the petitioners to serve the copies of the pleas to the Centre, had also questioned why the matter has suddenly cropped up now when it had come to light way back in 2019.

    Editors Guild of India has sought in its plea that a special investigation team be set up to conduct a probe into reported surveillance of journalists and others.

  • Pegasus row: SC to hear plea of senior journalists N Ram, Sashi Kumar next week

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will next week hear a plea by senior journalists N Ram and Sashi Kumar seeking an independent probe by a sitting or a retired judge into the Pegasus snooping matter.

    A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana on Friday took note of senior advocate Kapil Sibal’s submissions that the petition, which has been numbered after filing with the apex court registry, needed an urgent hearing in view of its wide ramifications.

    The issue affects the freedom of citizens, the lawyer, appearing for Ram and Kumar said, and added that opposition leaders, journalists and even court staff have been put under surveillance.

    “It is creating waves in India and world over,” Sibal said while pressing for an urgent hearing on the plea.

    “We will list it sometime in next week,” the chief justice said.

    The bench agreed to Sibal’s submission that the plea be listed next week except on Tuesday and Wednesday when he will be busy in other matter.

    According 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 India.

    It seeks an investigation into the hacking of phones using the Pegasus spyware, 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.

    The 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 manner.

    ALSO READ | 500 people, groups write to CJI seeking Supreme Court intervention in Pegasus spyware caseThe petitioners 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 Pegasus software.

    Forensic analysis by the Security Lab of Amnesty International of several mobile phones, belonging to people targeted for surveillance, has confirmed Pegasus-induced security breaches, the petition claimed.

    “The targeted surveillance using military-grade 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 Court,” it added.

    The hacking of phones belonging to journalists, doctors, lawyers, activists, ministers and opposition politicians “seriously compromises” the effective exercise of the fundamental right to free speech and expression, the petition said.

    Such an act has an obvious chilling effect on expression by threatening invasion into the most core and private aspects of a person’s life, it added.

    According 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 and/or fine.

    “The attack prima facie constitutes an act of cyber-terrorism that has several grave political and security ramifications, especially considering that the devices of government ministers, senior political figures and constitutional functionaries which may contain sensitive information have been targeted,” it added.

  • Supreme Court to hear next week plea of senior journalist N Ram on Pegasus issue

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear next week the plea of senior journalist N Ram seeking an independent probe by a sitting or a retired judge into the Pegasus snooping matter.

    A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana took note of the submissions of senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Ram and veteran scribe Sashi Kumar, that the petition has been filed and numbered and needed to be heard in view of the large ramifications of the alleged snooping.

    “We will list it sometime in next week,” the CJI said.

    The plea said the alleged snooping represented an attempt by agencies and organisations to muzzle and chill the exercise of free speech and expression of dissent in India.

    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.

    ALSO READ | 500 people, groups write to CJI seeking Supreme Court intervention in Pegasus spyware case

  • Pegasus spyware: Senior journalists move SC seeking independent enquiry into government snooping allegations

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Veteran journalists N Ram and Sashi Kumar have moved the Supreme Court seeking an independent probe by its sitting or retired judge into the reports of alleged snooping by government agencies on eminent citizens, politicians and scribes by using Israeli spyware Pegasus.

    The petition, likely to come up for hearing within next few days, sought to investigate if the illegal hacking into the phones using the Pegasus spyware represented an attempt by agencies and organisations to muzzle and chill the exercise of free speech and expression of dissent in India.

    It also sought a direction to the Centre to disclose if the government or any of its agencies obtained license for Pegasus spyware and used it, either directly or indirectly, to conduct surveillance in any manner.

    The petitioners claimed that investigation involving several leading publications around the world has revealed that more than 142 Indians, including journalists, lawyers, government ministers, opposition politicians, constitutional functionaries and civil society activists, have been identified as potential targets for surveillance using Pegasus software.

    It climaxed that the forensic analysis of several mobile phones belonging to persons targeted for surveillance by the Security Lab of Amnesty International have confirmed Pegasus-induced security breaches.

    “The targeted surveillance using military-grade 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 Court,” it added.

    It said the targeted hacking of phones belonging to journalists, doctors, lawyers, civil society activists, government ministers and opposition politicians “seriously compromises” the effective exercise of the fundamental right to free speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

    It has an obvious chilling effect on expression by threatening invasion into the most core and private aspects of a person’s life, it claimed.

    It claimed that the hack occasioned by the Pegasus spyware constituted a criminal offence punishable under interalia Section 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 and/or fine.

    “The attack prima facie constitutes an act of cyber-terrorism that has several grave political and security ramifications, especially considering that the devices of government ministers, senior political figures and constitutional functionaries which may contain sensitive information have been targeted,” it added.

    Earlier, a petition was filed by a lawyer before the apex court seeking a court-monitored probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the snooping row.

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