Nirendra Dev
A Bench of CJI, Justice N V Ramana and Justice Surya Kant, said while the ‘charges’ are serious, no efforts seem to have been made by the affected people to file criminal complaints, according to sources.
New Delhi: The first day of hearing on Pegasus row on August 5 in the Supreme Court generally on expected lines wherein the Chief Justice N V Ramana wanted to know why those who have grievances have not filed an FIR yet.
Of course, he said, if charges come true, it is serious.
But as expected, it was an interesting hearing/mild argument in the highest court of the land on an issue that has polarised the Indian Neta class and has stalled Parliament for weeks.
“If you know that your phone is hacked, why are you not filing an FIR?” asked Chief Justice N V Ramana at one point while some counsels for petitioners claimed their clients' phones have been “under surveillance.”
But there was a moment of embarrassment for petitioner N Ram and his counsel.
This happened when the Chief Justice said, "The petition by N Ram says that the California Court has observed that some Indian journalists and other persons were ‘also targets.’ “Where in the court order does it say this?… We don’t see.”
A Bench of CJI, Justice N V Ramana and Justice Surya Kant, said while the ‘charges’ are serious, no efforts seem to have been made by the affected people to file criminal complaints, according to sources.
During the hearing, Chief Justice also remarked, “truth has to come out.”
Eminent counsel Kapil Sibal, according to sources, expressed concern about media reports that Pegasus can even take photos and record videos without the phone user knowing anything.
On this, Sibal, a Congress lawmaker and former IT Minister, said: “…If I move around in my private moments, they can watch me. They can activate my camera.”
Opening the argument, Sibal, representing N. Ram, submitted before the bench that 'Pegasus' is a rogue technology, and it is entirely illegal, as it infiltrates into our lives through telephone.
At this, Chief Justice Ramana said: “Before going into all that, we have certain questions. No doubt, the allegations are serious, if reports in the newspapers are correct.”
At one point, counsel Shyam Divan also said: “Given the dimension of the case , it must have been by a high level bureaucrat who has access to different ministries.”
Divan is representing petitioner Jagdeep Chokkar, who is the Founder and Trustee of Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
Before the apex court, it has also been submitted that the United States and France governments have alerted the Israeli government.
Advocate Shyam Divan appearing for Jagdeep Chokkar, made a plea: “For a private citizen to find out that a spyware has been turned on him, it is something unconstitutional. It constitutes a war by the government on the citizen.”
Kapil Sibal appearing for petitioners, said, “All we want is a notice (perhaps to the Government) at this stage.”
The court ordered that the next hearing would be on August 10 Tuesday.
“Let the matters be listed on Tuesday, August 10,” the court said.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters that Congress intends to let Parliament function only "if the Parliament subserves the interest of their Parivar."
"The motto of the Congress party is that, so long as the Parliament is allowed to subserve the interest of the 'Parivar' and the dynasty, the Parliament will be allowed to function," he said.
A planned 'sabotage and pandemonium' is being orchestrated in the Parliament as the so-called Pegasus spying row was kicked off hours before the monsoon session commenced on July 19.
In two weeks of the session till July end, 89 hours of working time of both the Houses have been wasted, resulting in draining out of Rs 133 crore of exchequer money.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday lashed out at opposition parties for pursuing their disruption of Parliament politics and asserted that the country could not be held 'hostage' to such selfishness and politics.
