“Government need not disclose anything which compromises national security” : SC
New Delhi: The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre, on Tuesday, on a batch of pleas seeking independent probe into the alleged Pegasus snooping matter, making it clear that it did not want the government to disclose anything that might compromise national security.
The matter will be taken after 10 days and will be observed what course should be adopted, said a bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana sought the Centre’s response on the pleas.
The bench, also comprising Justices Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose, told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the apex court does not want the government tp disclose anything which may compromise national security.
The top court told this after Mehta argued that divulging the information on affidavit, as sought by the petitioners, would involve aspects of national security.
The court is hearing a batch of pleas, including the one filed by Editor Guild of India, seeking independent probe into the matter.
They are related to reports of alleged snooping by government agencies on eminent citizens, politicians and scribes by using from NSO’s spyware Pegasus.
An international media consortium reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were on the list of potential targets for surveillance using Pegasus spyware.
