CJAR, NCPRI writes to CJI over live streaming SC hearings on Pegasus case

The Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) and the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) have written to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) N V Ramana, seeking to live stream hearings of petitions, seeking an investigation into the Pegasus snooping case, listed before the Supreme Court.

"Given that this case deals with matters of tremendous immense public interest, and its outcome will have wide ramifications for our republic, we are writing to request you to ensure live-streaming of the hearings of the case," the CJI and NCRPI said in a letter to the Chief Justice on Monday.

Currently, the Apex court is hearing petitions filed by several petitioners seeking a probe into the reports of the government allegedly using Israeli software Pegasus to spy on politicians, activists and journalists.

CJAR and NCPRI in their letter to CJI stated that there was "deep concern" regarding the recent revelations that the Pegasus software was used "to hack into the phones of Indian citizens, apparently at the behest of the Indian government."

"Deployment of the Pegasus software has been established through cyber forensic analysis of some of the targeted phones by internationally reputed labs," they claimed.

According to them, such large-scale "intrusive" surveillance into the phones belonging to constitutional authorities, political leaders, journalists and activists, apart from being a violation of people's fundamental right to privacy, is a "frontal attack on our democracy."

The letter further stated that investigations by media reveal the phone numbers belonging to a judge of the Supreme Court, registrars of the apex court and the woman staffer (and her family members) who had accused a former Chief Justice of India of sexual harassment were potentially hacked.

These revelations point towards a "grave threat to the independence of the judiciary," said the two organizational bodies.

Referring to the Swapnil Tripathi vs Supreme Court of India judgment of 2018, they said that the Apex Court had agreed to live-streaming of important cases.

The letter, which has been signed by Prashant Bhushan, Amrita Johri, Anjali Bhardwaj further stated, "We earnestly request you to initiate live-streaming of proceedings of the Supreme Court matters of public importance, starting with the Pegasus case."

( With inputs from ANI )

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