Five journalists, reported to have been under surveillance through Pegasus software, have moved the Supreme Court for a judicial oversight mechanism to be set up to deal with complaints.
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, S.N.M. Abdi, Prem Shankar Jha, Rupesh Kumar Singh and Ipsa Shataksi have moved the apex court, saying they were subjected to “deeply intrusive surveillance”. They said a forensic examination done by Amnesty International on mobile phones revealed traces of interference.
Explained | Pegasus and the laws on surveillance in India
They said their fundamental rights, primarily of privacy, and dignity, were violated by the snooping.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana is scheduled to hear on August 5 three petitions, including one filed jointly by senior journalists N. Ram and Sashi Kumar, seeking an independent probe headed by a retired or sitting Supreme Court judge into the Pegasus allegations.
Mr. Ram’s petition has asked the court to direct the government to come clean on whether the surveillance was done with the government’s knowledge or not.
The five journalists have, in their turn, asked the court to direct the government to produce records or documents to show that it had in any way authorised the snooping of private citizens, journalists, activists and even its own Ministers.
