Snoopgate incident: Victim wants curb on media coverage

New Delhi: A joint petition filed by the woman, who was spied on by the Gujarat police, and her father said that if commissions of inquiry are formed, it would be an infringement of their fundamental right to privacy. They said the Gujarat government acted on a “personal request” by the woman to ensure her safety, that she was aware of the surveillance and was “thankful” for it.

The SC issued notices to the Centre and the Gujarat government seeking their replies before Friday.

The woman and her father also sought a direction restraining the media from publishing and airing news of the controversy. The woman and her father submitted that the malicious campaign had led them to change their residential accommodation four times in a few months and their email accounts were hacked and indecent calls are being made to them.

A controversy broke out last year when two news portals released CDs of purported telephonic conversations between Narendra Modi’s aide Amit Shah and two top police officials relating to snooping on a woman architect in 2009.