In a setback to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Supreme Court on Friday stayed the probe ordered by her into the allegations of surveillance by using Pegasus software.
The Bengal Government has set up a commission under (retd) Madan B Justice Lokur to probe the scandal. The former chief justice of Calcutta High Court Jyotirmay Bhattacharya was a member of the commission of inquiry.
A bench comprising Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli took note of the plea that despite the assurance of the West Bengal Government that the Lokur panel would not proceed with the inquiry, the commission has commenced its work.
The apex court on October 27 had appointed a three-member panel of cyber experts to probe the alleged use of Israeli spyware Pegasus for surveillance of certain people in India, saying every citizen needs protection against privacy violation and mere invocation of national security by the State does not render the court a mute spectator.
The SC on Friday also allowed petitioner NGO Global Village Foundation to make the Justice Lokur Commission a party in the proceedings. The NGO had opposed the parallel probe by the Lokur Commission.
While constituting the probe panel, Mamata had launched an all-out attack on the BJP Government for putting Opposition parties and their leaders, including herself, under surveillance.
“It is very dangerous that the Opposition parties and those who do not support this Government’s policies should be put under surveillance like this … do you call it a democracy … I have put plastered the the camera of my phone out of fear and have been speaking to my advisers in person and not over the phone … I have also advised Ministers and other key people to maintain extreme privacy in such cases,” the CM had said. She also alleged that her election adviser Prashant Kishore too had been put under surveillance.