- Saturday, May 04, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE Narendra Modi government on Monday (16) told the Supreme Court of India that it will form a committee of experts to investigate the ongoing Pegasus snooping allegations that have rocked the country’s political and media circles.
In an affidavit filed by the additional secretary, ministry of electronics and information technology, the government denied allegations that the spyware was used to target opposition leaders, journalists and others.
ALSO READ: Pegasus: India top court speaks against social media debates
“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,” the government mentioned in the affidavit filed before a bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Surya Kant.
Pegasus charges serious if media reports true: India Supreme Court
During the brief hearing, the bench said it will take up the matter at the end of board of the day’s business.
On August 10, the apex court had taken exception to “parallel proceedings and debates” on social media on the snooping controversy by some petitioners and said there must be some discipline and they must have “some faith in the system”.
The Pegasus issue rocked the monsoon session of the parliament with the Lok Sabha, the lower house, getting adjourned sine die two days before the schedule. The opposition relentlessly demanded from the government a discussion on the snooping scandal before any other businesses were taken up.
