New Delhi, September 7
The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred to September 13 hearing on petitions seeking an SIT probe into the alleged snooping on politicians, journalists and activists using Pegasus spyware after the Centre sought time to decide if it would file a fresh affidavit in the matter.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana had issued a notice to the Centre on the pleas on August 17. The Centre had then filed a short affidavit on the matter. As the hearing resumed, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Bench, “I need to take a call on filing a second affidavit. It could not be decided due to some difficulties.”
When the Bench said the Centre’s affidavit was already there, Mehta clarified that the government was to take a decision on filing of a second affidavit. The court posted the matter for hearing on Monday after senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing journalist N Ram, said he didn’t have objection to Mehta’s request.
In the earlier affidavit, the Centre had said the pleas seeking an independent probe into the snooping allegations were based on “conjectures and surmises or on other unsubstantiated media reports or incomplete or uncorroborated material”.
