SC to hear next week plea of senior journalist N Ram on Pegasus issue

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear next week the plea of senior journalist N Ram seeking an independent probe by a sitting or a retired judge into the Pegasus snooping matter.

A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana took note of the submissions of senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Ram and veteran scribe Sashi Kumar, that the petition has been filed and numbered and needed to be heard in view of the large ramifications of the alleged snooping.

“We will list it sometime in next week,” the CJI said.

The plea said the alleged snooping represented an attempt by agencies and organisations to muzzle and chill the exercise of free speech and expression of dissent in India.

An international media consortium has reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were on a list of potential targets for surveillance using Israeli firm NSO”s Pegasus spyware.