Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 3: Even as the prime minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday lashed out at the opposition for “insulting” Parliament and the Constitution by obstructing the procedures in the two Houses on the Pegasus spyware issue, the Editors Guild of India moved the Supreme Court seeking a special investigation team (SIT) probe into the Union government’s role in the snooping row.
The EGI has stated that the “indiscriminate use” of top-end surveillance technology against journalists destroys free speech and “poisons the heart of democracy.” The Guild pointed out that freedom of Press is a hard-won right essential to democracy.
“Freedom of the Press relies on non-interference by the government and its agencies in the reporting of journalists, including their ability to securely and confidentially speaking with sources, investigate abuse of power and corruption, expose governmental incompetence, and speak with those in the Opposition,” the petition, filed through advocate Lzafeer Ahamed B.F., said.
The petition by the Guild followed another similar petition filed earlier by two veteran journalists N Ram and Sashi Kumar asking the government to come clean about the Pegasus allegations. The CPM Rajya Sabha member John Brittas and the Supreme Court lawyer ML Sharma have also separately moved the court on the same issue.
Journalists Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, SNM Abdi, Prem Shankar Jha, Rupesh Kumar Singh and Ipsa Shataksi, reported to be victims of Pegasus surveillance, had also moved the apex court, saying they were subjected to “deeply intrusive surveillance”. They said a forensic examination done by the Amnesty International on mobile phones revealed traces of interference.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana is scheduled to hear the Pegasus row petitions on Thursday.
The Guild in its petition on Tuesday said a court-monitored probe should look into “every aspect of the use of Pegasus by the government against Indian citizens, especially journalists.”
Questions and attempts to garner the truth from the government have reached a dead-end. In fact, the government had “stonewalled” efforts to seek accountability, the petition said.
The government had “deliberately avoided” public debate on the issue. It had only provided some “obfuscated answers” to straight questions about its alleged role in the snooping, the plea stated.
“The citizens of India have a right to know if the Executive government is infringing the limits of their authority under the Constitution and what steps have been taken to safeguard their fundamental rights,” it said.
The Guild told the court that it was only seeking the enforcement of the public’s right to know the truth about who was behind the Pegasus surveillance exercise. It also sought a “complete overhaul” of the “surveillance architecture” by even challenging the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, Rule 419A of the Indian Telegraph Rules 1951, Section 69 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring and Decryption) of Information Rules, 2009.
Earlier addressing a meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Party, Modi slammed the opposition for continuous blockade of the proceedings in the two Houses of Parliament demanding a debate on the Pegasus issue and the three contentious farm laws. He was particularly critical of the opposition members tearing papers in the House and making “derogatory” remarks about the way some bills have been passed by Parliament without any discussions amidst the opposition din and accused them of insulting the legislature and the Constitution with their conduct.
Briefing media persons about the parliamentary party meeting, the Parliamentary Affairs minister Prahlad Joshi said the Prime Minister expressed anger at the conduct of some opposition members. While a Trinamool Congress member had torn the papers containing the statement of the IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on the Pegasus issue, several opposition members had torn papers in Lok Sabha and threw it in the air and towards the Chair.
A tweet by another TMC MP Derek O’Brien criticising the manner in which the bills were passed in Parliament, also drew Modi’s ire, Joshi said. In a tweet O’Brien said, “In the first 10 days, Modi-Shah rushed through and passed 12 Bills at an average time of UNDER SEVEN MINUTES per Bill. Passing legislation or making papri chaat!” Such comments are “derogatory” of parliamentary procedure and esteem of elected representatives, Modi told the meeting.
He said the conduct of the opposition was an “insult” to Parliament and the Constitution, Mr. Joshi said, quoting the Prime Minister.
The Opposition has stalled Parliament’s proceedings demanding a discussion on the Pegasus issue which the government dismissed as an inconsequential non-issue.
Modi, however, advised the party members to maintain restrain and protect the dignity of the House in the face of continued opposition protest. He asked them not to lose their calm as the opposition continued with chaotic protests inside the two Houses.
Inside the Lok Sabha, the speaker Om Birla also criticised the opposition MPs while adjourning the proceedings for 15 minutes. Birla said he has allowed seven questions related to farmers but the opposition did not want to raise any issue related to them. “I wanted you to ask questions about the farmers’ issues but you didn’t want to. You were just raising slogans. You were sent to Parliament to ask questions and raise issues,” Birla said.
