In this hearing, the petitioner objected to parallel inquiries while the West Bengal government asserted that the Supreme Court should not listen to a petitioner whose motives were not clear. “In all fairness, we expect you can wait,” said the Chief Justice of India NV Ramana while hearing the petition challenging the constitution of a judicial panel by the West Bengal government to investigate Pegasus-related allegations, LiveLaw tweeted. The Supreme Court of India also decided to club the petition along with other petitions on Pegasus which will be taken up next week. https://twitter.com/LiveLawIndia/status/1430431875772796928 An investigation by the Pegasus Project, a consortium of 17 news organisations led by Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International, exposed that more than 50,000 phone numbers were identified as either targets or potential targets of Pegasus spyware developed by the NSO Group. These numbers belonged to journalists, politicians, activists, bureaucrats, heads of state, among others. The group, however, responded that the spyware is sold only to vetted governments and its agencies to neutralize terrorists and criminals. The Indian government did not order an investigation into surveillance carried out by the Pegasus spyware despite the purported surveillance causing several violations of law. Moreover, the Centre has neither confirmed nor denied purchasing the spyware or using it. The probe ordered by the West Bengal government was the only investigation ordered by a government in India. The state government cited the Centre’s inaction as one of the reasons behind establishing the judicial commission. What was discussed in the hearing? LiveLaw…
