 "Gujarat snooping row: Congress demands probe by SC judge")
Launching an all-out offensive against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress on Sunday demanded a probe by a sitting Supreme Court judge into allegations of snooping on a young woman by Gujarat Police.
"Under what provision of the law was the Indian Telegraph Act violated? Who should be punished for these violations?" Congress leader Jayanthi Natarajan demanded to know, speaking at a press conference here.
She said an independent inquiry should be held by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court into the allegations so that "no further harm and violence is done to the Indian constitution and the women of India, above all, are safe".
Natarajan rubbished BJP president Rajnath Singh's comments that the young woman's father had requested Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to look after the girl.
"Even if a father asks, can a chief minister of a state, who is committed to protect the country against terrorism, use the entire Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and his minister of state for home, to watch over the young woman and infringe her right to privacy?" Natarajan asked.
"Can he violate the law by snooping upon every conversation of the girl? Can the chief minister of the state be allowed to use the entire state resources to snoop and invade the privacy of one young woman even if her father made that request?"
"We feel a deep sense of disgust, horror and shame because the honour and dignity of every woman of India is at stake," she added.
According to investigative reports on two websites, three key wings of Gujarat Police misused their powers to stalk an unmarried young woman from Bangalore in 2009 under orders from then minister of state for home Amit Shah who did it for his "saheb".