Pegasus | Have faith in us, Supreme court tells petitioners

Don’t engage in parallel debates on social media, says Chief Justice N.V. Ramana.

August 10, 2021 01:19 pm | Updated 10:07 pm IST - NEW DELHI:

Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana. File

Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana. File

Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana on Tuesday said petitioners in the Pegasus snooping case should place their faith in the Supreme Court and not engage in “parallel proceedings and debates” on social media platforms and other outlets while their case is sub judice .

The Chief Justice, heading a three-judge Bench, said if they had anything to say, they should put it down in affidavits and file them in the court, where it would be debated.

“There should be some discipline... If they want to say something on Twitter or Facebook, it is up to them... But we expect them, having come here [to the Supreme Court], to put their faith in the court,” Chief Justice Ramana observed.

He stressed that questions from the Bench during court hearings should not be misconstrued.

“We ask questions to all of you... They may sometimes cause inconvenience to you... You may not like it, but that is the process of the court.... Counsel should be responsible. If they want anything, they should bring it to the court,” Chief Justice Ramana addressed lawyers including senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who has been leading the petitioner side, while mentioning the multiple hats donned by the latter as former Union Minister and parliamentarian.

Mr. Sibal, who represents senior journalists N. Ram and Sashi Kumar, agreed with the Chief Justice. He said his client, Mr. Ram, was “trolled” on social media after the last hearing. Mr. Sibal said trolls had latched onto an oral reference from the Bench. The court had, in the previous hearing, mentioned whether Mr. Ram’s petition had “wrongly” ascribed to a California court a statement that Pegasus targeted Indian journalists.

But a careful reading of Mr. Ram’s petition had found no such allusions regarding the California court. In fact, Mr. Ram’s petition merely mentioned that the U.S. court was dealing with a suit filed by WhatsApp against NSO Group “for targeting the mobile phones of around 1,400 users with malware”.

“It was blown out of proportion... The man was trolled,” Mr. Sibal said. Chief Justice Ramana said he had made it clear that he himself was not sure whether he had read it in Mr. Ram’s petition or in some other plea.

More time sought

Meanwhile, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the government, sought more time to go through the multiple petitions. He asked for a short adjournment, probably till Friday.

However, the CJI said he had a personal inconvenience on Friday and was not sitting. The Bench listed the case for hearing on Monday.

Senior advocate C.U. Singh asked the court to issue formal notice to the government. “I will take a call on Monday,” Chief Justice Ramana assured.

The court has, in the last hearing, said that “truth has to come out” in the Pegasus snooping case. The court had said that allegations of the government using Israel-based technology to spy on civilians, journalists, Ministers, parliamentarians, activists were “no doubt serious” provided the news reports were true.

The previous hearing had witnessed a barrage of questions from the Bench, including if there was any “verifiable material” other than foreign newspaper reports to support a judicial order for an inquiry into the Pegasus allegations. The Chief Justice had also queried why the petitioners had to wait so long when doubts about surveillance were first raised over two years ago. The court had asked why the “targets” did not take criminal action. “If you knew your phone was hacked, why did you not file a criminal complaint,” Chief Justice had asked.

Seeking an independent inquiry at the highest level, Mr. Sibal had described Pegasus to the court as a “rogue technology”.

“It is entirely illegal. It infiltrates our lives without our knowledge through our phones… It hears, it watches, it surveys our every movement. It destroys the constitutional values of our Republic like privacy and individual dignity. Moreover, it destroys our national Internet backbone and is a threat to our national security,” Mr. Sibal had submitted.

The petitioners said the government should come clean and categorically state before the court whether it had used the Pegasus technology or not.

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