IT Minister dismisses allegation on phone tapping report

Ground Report | New Delhi: IT Minister dismisses allegation; Union Minister of Telecom and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnav has presented the government's stand on the phone tapping case in Lok Sabha. Vaishnav said, "A very sensitive report was published last night on a web portal in which many allegations were made in exaggeration. This report was published a day before the monsoon session of Parliament. It cannot be a coincidence."

He said, "Earlier also, similar claims have been made about the use of Pegasus on WhatsApp. They were baseless and were refuted by all parties. The report published on 18 July also sought to malign Indian democracy and its established institutions. Looks like an attempt."

He says that with our checks and balances no illegal surveillance of any kind is possible and explains the process of how to do legitimate surveillance with the approval of competent authorities.

ALSO READ: Aaj Tak sacks journalist for calling PM Modi a ‘shameless prime minister’

There is a very well-established oversight mechanism headed by the Cabinet Secretary. The publisher of the report said it could not say whether the numbers on the list were monitored. He says that there is no merit in the allegation of sensationalism in the report. (IT Minister dismisses allegation)

On Sunday, this popular report claimed that the phones of hundreds of journalists and other famous people have been tapped across the world. These include many people from India.

ALSO READ: SC orders release of Manipur activist arrested under NSA

A report published on Sunday by 'Washington Post' and news website 'The Wire' in India claimed that the phones of many journalists and social workers around the world were hacked.

However, NSO, the company that prepared the spyware named Pegasus, which is coming to the fore to hack the phone, has denied all the allegations. The company has been claiming that it only sells the program to accredited government agencies and aims to "fight terrorism and crime".

You can connect with Ground Report on Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp, and mail us at [email protected] to send us your suggestions and writeups