Pegasus row: West Bengal govt defends move to order judicial probe, files affidavit in SC

The Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal on Tuesday defended its decision to constitute a judicial commission to inquire into the Pegasus 'snooping' row. On July 26, the Mamata Banerjee-led government appointed a Commission of Inquiry comprising ex-SC judge Madan Lokur and former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Jyotirmay Bhattacharya under the Commission of Inquiry Act. It was tasked to investigate the facts and circumstances related to the purported illegal hacking of phones of various police officials, politicians, MLAs, journalists, activists and other judges. 

This came in the wake of reports suggesting that the CM's nephew Abhishek Banerjee and TMC poll strategist Prashant Kishor were potential targets of snooping. In a counter-affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on a plea seeking the quashing of this probe, the state government stated that the main reason for commencing an inquiry was to restore "public confidence". It maintained that the Commission of Inquiry cannot override the orders of the apex court as it is merely a "fact-finding body".

The affidavit read, "The Commission of inquiry being a fact finding body does not adjudicate upon any matter. Its final report is for the benefit of the State Government which will enable it to take appropriate and informed steps including setting up a framework of counter measures to ensure that no unauthorised interception (hacking and surveillance) via a rouge foreign spyware can occur in the State of West Bengal. Further, the final report of the Commission may also assist this Hon’ble Court in the present proceedings given that the information received by the Commission would be subjected to forensic analysis by trained judicial minds."

Moreover, the West Bengal government contended that the Global Village Foundation had filed this petition to obstruct any independent inquiry into the matter. To buttress its point, it claimed that Balram Nandwani, the Trustee and Chairman of this NGO has close associations with RSS and its affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch. It also argued that the subject matter of the investigation was wide enough to justify its jurisdiction to form the Commission of Inquiry. The matter will come up for hearing on Wednesday.

The Pegasus row

The controversy came to the fore when French non-profit Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International accessed a leaked database of 50,000 phone numbers that were allegedly targeted by Pegasus. As per media reports, the Pegasus spyware targeted over 300 Indian mobile numbers including that of 40 journalists, businesspersons, one constitutional authority, three opposition leaders and two sitting Ministers in the Union government. The database also allegedly contained the numbers of activists who are accused and incarcerated in the Bhima Koregaon case.

Notably, Pegasus maker NSO Group categorically rubbished these allegations and cast doubts on the reliability of the sources. Making a statement on this issue in Rajya Sabha on July 22, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw slammed the over-the-top allegations. Casting aspersions on the timing of the leak, he asserted that similar claims made regarding the use of Pegasus on WhatsApp had no factual basis. On August 9, the Ministry of Defence clarified that it has done any transaction with the NSO Group.