A day after a television channel reporter alleged that her phone was being tapped over the Hathras incident, the Uttar Pradesh government was yet to come out with an official statement on the issue on Saturday.
However, when asked about the allegation, a senior government official described it as “rubbish”.
“No phone of anybody, any journalist is tapped. We are not doing anything. This is total rubbish”, Navneet Sehgal, additional chief secretary, information, told The Hindu .
On Friday, Channel India Today said an audio tape of a call between their reporter Tanushree Pandey and the brother of the rape victim in Hathras was illegally leaked on social media. In an official statement, it asked if the phone of their reporter was being tapped or the numbers of the grieving family had been put under surveillance.
Under what provisions of law was the audio recording leaked by the officials who had access to it, it asked. “The audio has been released with mala fide intentions”, it said.
