Pegasus case: Don't want national security compromised, says SC

The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Centre on a batch of pleas seeking independent probe into the alleged Pegasus snooping case and told the government that the court did not want it to disclose anything which might compromise national security.

A bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana said on Tuesday after the government maintained that divulging information on the affidavit would involve aspects of national security.

The bench, which also included Justices Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose, said that it had thought the government would file a comprehensive affidavit but only a limited affidavit was filed in the matter.

The apex court said that it would take up the pleas for hearing after 10 days and would also see what course of action should be adopted.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was representing the Centre, told the bench that the government had made its stand clear in the affidavit which was filed on Monday.

Also read: Pegasus charges based on ‘conjectures and surmises’, Centre tells SC

“Our considered response is what we have respectfully stated in our last affidavit. Kindly examine the issue from our point of view as our affidavit is sufficient,” Mehta told the bench, adding, “The Government of India is before the highest court of the country.”

Mehta said that the government had said in its affidavit that it would constitute a committee of experts to examine all the aspects and the panel will submit its report before the top court.

Mehta said that there is nothing to hide in this case, adding that aspect of national security is involved in the matter. He also said that this cannot be a ‘matter of public debate’ and the committee of experts would report to the apex court.

“This is a sensitive matter and this has to be dealt with sensitivity,” Mehta said, adding that government cannot divulge information in public domain on security apparatus being used.

The bench told Mehta that it does not want anything which would compromise national security.

Also read: Have faith in system, avoid parallel debates, SC tells Pegasus petitioners

“What is the problem if the competent authority files an affidavit before us,” the bench observed, adding, “We do not want any word about national security.”

Mehta said that he was not saying that government would not tell anything to anyone and his argument was that they do not wish to say this publicly.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for veteran journalists N Ram and Sashi Kumar, who have filed a petition in the matter, said that they do not want the state to divulge any information which may have bearing on national security. The bench sent a notice to the government and the matter was scheduled for hearing after 10 days.

The court is hearing a batch of pleas, including the one filed by the Editors’ Guild of India, seeking an independent probe into the 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.

The apex court had said on Monday that it cannot compel the reluctant Centre to file a detailed affidavit on pleas seeking information, if Pegasus spyware was used to snoop on certain citizens and steps it took to probe the allegations amid vehement claims that there was nothing to hide.

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The Centre had  filed a limited affidavit in the court on Monday and said that the pleas were based on conjectures and surmises or on other unsubstantiated media reports or incomplete or uncorroborated material.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in a two-page affidavit had told the court to dispel any wrong narrative spread by certain ‘vested interests’. It also said that the Centre would constitute a committee of experts and would examine all aspects of the issue.

Sibal had argued that the Centre should file an affidavit stating whether the government or its agencies have used Pegasus.