The Supreme Court will deliver its verdict on pleas seeking an independent probe into the Pegasus snooping row.
The Supreme Court will deliver its verdict on pleas demanding an independent probe into the Pegasus snooping case. The court is likely to set up a technical committee to probe the allegations.
The Supreme Court will deliver its verdict on pleas demanding an independent probe into the Pegasus snooping case. The court is likely to set up a technical committee to probe the allegations.
The verdict will be pronounced by Justices Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli.
Earlier on September 13, a bench comprising Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli had reserved the order saying it only wanted to know whether or not the Centre used the Pegasus spyware through illegal methods to allegedly snoop on citizens.
Read: Pegasus snooping row: The story so far
The Supreme Court had observed orally that it would set up a technical expert committee to inquire into the matter and pass an interim order on the pleas seeking an independent probe into the grievances of the alleged surveillance of certain eminent Indians by hacking their phones using Israeli firm NSO’s spyware, Pegasus.
The top court’s observations on constituting the committee assume significance in view of the Centre’s statement that it would set up an expert panel on its own to look into the entire issue.
The top court had said it would pronounce the order in a few days and asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, to mention the case if the government had a re-think about filing a detailed affidavit.
The bench had said that it only wanted to know from the Centre, which expressed unwillingness to file a detailed affidavit citing national security, whether Pegasus was used to allegedly spy on individuals and if it was done lawfully.
Read: Pegasus issue: SC reserves verdict after Centre says it won’t file detailed affidavit
Observing that concerns had been raised by journalists and others over violation of privacy in the Pegasus row, the top court had said it was not interested in knowing the details related to national security.
The Centre maintained it did not wish to file a detailed affidavit on whether the particular software was used or not as it was not a matter for public discussion and would not be in the “larger national interest”.
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