Pegasus row: Supreme Court says snooping allegations serious, if correct

The Supreme Court on Thursday said allegations of snooping are serious if the reports regarding it are correct as it commenced hearing on a batch of pleas seeking an independent probe into the alleged Pegasus snooping matter. A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Surya Kant asked some questions at the outset from senior counsel Kapil Sibal appearing for the Editors Guild of India and senior journalists N Ram and Sashi Kumar.

”Before going into all that, we have certain questions. No doubt, the allegations are serious, if the reports are true,” the CJI observed and raised the issue of delay, saying the matter had come to light way back in 2019. Reports of snooping came to light in 2019. I do not know whether any efforts were made to get more information, the CJI observed, adding that he did not want to say that it was an impediment.