The Centre said to the Supreme Court, it would not file a detailed affidavit on petition seeking for probe into the apparent use of the Pegasus spyware. It said it would establish a committee of experts to look into charges of illegal surveillance.
According to solicitor General Tushar Mehta -“existence of whether a particular software was used or not, cannot become part of an affidavit or subject of public discourse. Target groups, terror groups should not know what software is being used, “We will set up a committee of domain experts.
The Solicitor General said the petitioners who say their numbers were put under interception can be considered by the committee. The committee report will be placed before your lordships.”
According to CJI NV Ramana, “We reserve orders. This is for interim orders. You have two-three days, Mr. Mehta. If you do any rethink, you can mention it before this court.”
Earlier, Supreme Court prompted the government that it understood the ‘national security’ argument, but that it was only asked to respond to claims of hacking of individuals’ phones.
