The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the functioning of the two-member Commission of Inquiry headed by retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice Madan B Lokur which was constituted by the West Bengal government to probe the Pegasus surveillance scandal [Manohar Lal Sharma v. Union of India].
The order staying the commission’s functioning was passed by a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana on a contempt petition pointing out how the commission was continuing its work despite a Supreme Court judgment of October 27 directing a probe into the scandal by a three-member expert committee headed by another former Supreme Court judge, Justice RV Raveendran.
“Issue notice. Stay on functioning of (Justice Lokur) commission and all proceedings,” the Court ordered
The Commission of Inquiry which also has on board former Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, Justice (retired) Jyotirmay Bhattacharya is inquiring into allegations that the Pegasus software developed by Israeli spyware firm NSO had been misused to spy on Indian lawyers, journalists, government officials, Constitutional functionaries and others.
The West Bengal government had constituted the commission even as the Supreme Court was hearing a batch of petitions seeking probe into the scandal.
The Supreme Court had on October 27 passed a judgment in those petitions order a judicial probe by a three-member commission.
Meanwhile, another plea was filed before the top court seeking to disband the two-member Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice Lokur. The top court had issued notice in that petition but had not passed any interim order.
Senior Counsel Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the State of West Bengal had earlier told the Court that there is no requirement of any interim order from the top court and that he will convey to the State about the top court being seized of the matter.
When the contempt plea was taken up today, the Bench which also comprised Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli questioned Dr. Singhvi.
“What is this Mr Singhvi? You told us there is no need for an order,” the CJI said.
“I had conveyed the need for restraint but the commission is not controlled by me. They did not work till your orders were out,” Dr. Singhvi responded.
“We understand your predicament,” the CJI replied before proceeding to stay the commission’s functioning.
Israel based spyware firm NSO is best known for its Pegasus spyware, which it claims is sold only to “vetted governments” and not to private entities, though the company does not reveal which governments it sells the controversial product to.
An international consortium, including the Indian news portal The Wire, recently released a series of reports indicating that the said software may have been used to infect the mobile devices of several persons including Indian journalists, activists, lawyers, officials, a former Supreme Court judge and others.
To this end, the reports had referred to a list of phone numbers that were selected as potential targets. Upon analysis by a team from Amnesty International, some of these numbers were found to have traces of a successful Pegasus infection, while some showed attempted infection, the reports had said.
