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The Supreme Court on Wednesday set up a three-member independent expert panel to probe the alleged use of Israeli spyware Pegasus for targeted surveillance in India, observing the state cannot get a ”free pass” every time the spectre of national security is raised and that its mere invocation cannot render the judiciary a ”mute spectator” and be the bugbear it shies away from.
”I am perturbed by the statement in the SC order that many persons when requested to be a member of a Committee to probe the Pegasus controversy, ‘politely declined’,” Chidambaram tweeted.
Can any conscientious citizen decline the request of the Supreme Court to serve in a matter of paramount national interest, the former Union minister asked.
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In a significant verdict over the issue of protecting citizens’ right to privacy that was welcomed by legal experts, a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana asserted that in a democratic country governed by the rule of law, indiscriminate spying on individuals cannot be allowed except with sufficient statutory safeguards by following the procedure established by law under the Constitution.