New Delhi: Describing the petitions seeking an independent probe into alleged Pegasus snooping row as Orwellian, a three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) N.V. Ramana Wednesday appointed an expert committee to investigate the allegations.
The three-member technical committee will be supervised by a panel led by former Supreme Court judge Justice R.V. Raveendran and will constitute experts from different fields such as digital forensics, cyber security, networks and hardware.
While pronouncing the order, the apex court said its effort is to uphold the constitutional aspirations and rule of law without getting consumed in the “political rhetoric”.
“The mere invocation of national security by the State does not render the Court a mute spectator,” the court observed while stressing the need to examine the allegations.
Quoting English novelist George Orwell, the bench said, “If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.”
The top court asked the committee to prepare the report after a “thorough inquiry and place it before the court, expeditiously”.
The bench is scheduled to hear the matter after eight weeks.
