Govt need not disclose anything that compromises national security: Supreme Court on Pegasus controversy
The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Center on a batch of petitions seeking an independent probe into the alleged Pegasus espionage case, making it clear that it does not want the government to disclose anything that could compromise national security. Is. A bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana sought the Centre’s response on the petitions and said it would take up the matter after 10 days and see what course should be adopted.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the apex court did not want the government to say anything that would compromise national security. The apex court said this when Mehta argued that divulging the information in the affidavit sought by the petitioners would involve aspects of national security.
The court is hearing several petitions, including a petition filed by the Editors Guild of India, seeking an independent probe into the matter. They relate to reports of alleged spying by government agencies on eminent citizens, politicians and scholars using spyware Pegasus from the Israeli firm NSO.
An international media association has reported that more than 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were on the list of potential targets for surveillance using Pegasus spyware.
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