A group of women activists, including representatives from four political parties submitted a petition to President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here on Monday seeking an “independent and fair judicial probe” into the snooping row involving Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
The alleged snooping on a woman in Gujarat, the group claimed, was a “blatant violation of the Constitutional oath, negation of ‘Right to Privacy’ enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India, gross abuse of state power and misuse of police machinery and commission of offences under the provisions of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and Indian Penal Code by Amit Shah, the then Minister of State for Home on behalf of and under the directions of Mr. Modi in running an illegal ‘snooping racket’ against a young woman, her friends and acquaintances transgressing constitutional and legal power”. “We are hopeful that the President will take note of what we have said,” said Annie Raja of the Communist Party of India. Sapna Verma of the Lok Janshakti Party, Shobha Oza of the All India Mahila Congress and Nivedita Mane of the Nationalist Congress Party were also part of the delegation led by Shabnam Hashmi of ANHAD.
In the petition, the delegation has said: “The tapes reveal shocking, grim and completely unacceptable level of surveillance of the young woman, her friends and acquaintances. Gujarat Police followed her across the boundaries of States to malls, restaurants, gyms, when she went to visit relatives, when she went to see her mother in hospital, when she took a flight, when she checked into a hotel and to every building she visited or stayed in.”
