Pegasus Row: Bengal Govt Sets Up 2-Member Inquiry Commission

Retired SC Judge MB Lokur & former Chief Justice of Cal HC Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya to be the panel members

KOLKATA: The Bengal government on Monday constituted a two-member inquiry commission comprising retired Supreme Court Judge Justice Madan Bhimarao Lokur and former Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court Justice (retired) Jyotirmay Bhattacharya to probe into the allegations that the Pegasus software was misused to spy on lawyers, journalists, politicians and government officials.

Bengal is the first state in the country to constitute such a commission to probe the “illegal surveillance of phone calls” after the Pegasus spyware controversy surfaced. This comes when repeated requests to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home minister Amit Shah to come up with a statement in this connection have gone unheard.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced the setting up of the commission of Inquiry after the Cabinet gave its approval in a specially convened meeting held at Nabanna on Monday. Banerjee’s announcement came before she left for Kolkata Airport for her flight to Delhi. The panel will submit its report to the state government within six months.

The Chief Minister said: “The Cabinet has approved the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry consisting Honorable Justice MB Lokur, Retired Justice of the Supreme Court of India and Justice Jyotirmay Bhattacharya, former Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, in exercise of power conferred by Section 3 of the Commission of Inquiry Act 1952 in the matter of widely reported hacking, monitoring, putting under surveillance and recording, etc of mobile phones of various people in the state of West Bengal.” She urged the Commission to initiate its work at the earliest.