New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi welcomed the Supreme Court verdict on Pegasus spyware case, and its decision to form a committee to look into the row, saying the opposition’s stand on the issue is ‘vindicated’ since the judges have raised the same concerns. Rahul Gandhi pointed out that the opposition has been asking three basic questions, for which they haven’t got any reply as yet.
‘Who authorised Pegasus (and) who has bought Pegasus? Who are the victims of Pegasus snooping? Did any other nation have data on our people? What all information do they have?’ Gandhi questioned. ‘We protested, but no reply. We stopped Parliament, but we still did not get a reply. Now our stand is vindicated. So, our questions remain the same’, he said.
‘Pegasus can only be bought by a government, and either the Prime Minister or Home Minister had given the nod. If the PM of the nation colluded with another nation and attacked its own citizens — which included the Chief Justice, former PMs and other Chief Ministers, leaders of opposition parties, then this is an attack on the nation’, he added. ‘Did the other nation have all this data? That is a very important question. Even if this data was on the Prime Ministers desk, then that too is totally criminal, and we will contest it’, he said, adding that ‘the Prime Minster is not above the nation’.
He further said that the opposition will push for a debate again in parliament. ‘Surely the BJP will not want that discussion, but we will push for it. The matter is in court now and the court will take it forward, but we will push for a debate in Parliament’.
Also read: ‘Satyamev Jayate!’: Congress welcomes SC verdict on Pegasus spyware case
The Supreme Court on Wednesday, issued an order for an independent probe into the alleged use of Israeli spyware Pegasus for surveillance of some persons, pointing out that every citizen needs protection against violation of privacy. It stated that the Central Government cannot get a free pass every time the spectre of national security is raised.
Also read: ‘Centre can’t get free pass every time’: SC orders independent probe into Pegasus spyware case
The apex Court verdict came on a batch of 12 petitions, which sought an independent probe into the allegations which surfaced in the media about the unauthorised surveillance. It appointed a committee comprising three technical members and supervised by a retired judge Justice R V Raveendran to conduct a ‘thorough inquiry’ into allegations of use of Pegasus software for unauthorised surveillance.
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