With a Supreme Court-appointed panel stating the Centre did not cooperate in the Pegasus probe, the Congress Thursday alleged the government by its action has made it clear it has "something deeper to hide" and wants to crush democracy.
The apex court on Thursday said the technical panel appointed by it to probe the unauthorised use of Pegasus has found some malware in five mobile phones out of the 29 examined but it could not be concluded that it was due to the Israeli spyware.
After perusing the report submitted by former apex court Justice R V Raveendran, Chief Justice N V Ramana also noted that the Central government did not cooperate with the Pegasus probe.
"PM and his government's non-cooperation with the SC appointed committee is an acceptance that they had something deeper to hide and want to crush democracy," Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said, "Everybody knows this weapon was used and it dented democracy.
"This weapon is against the law and Constitution. How can they (the government) answer? Sometimes not answering is also an answer, the government has made it clear (by not giving answers) that they used Pegasus against democracy."
By staying silent, the government has "made it clear that it used the Pegasus spyware against Rahul Gandhi, other opposition leaders, scientists, election commissioner, registrar of the Supreme Court, civil society activists and senior journalists", he claimed.
"I hope the Supreme Court will treat this not giving of answer as an answer and take strict action against the government in this matter. We have been asking from day one why did the government use Pegasus and under what law," he said.
Congress spokesperson Vallabh questioned how a weapon which is used against terrorists and enemy of the state was used by the government "to weaken democracy, executive and the judiciary".
"That is a weapon to dent our democracy, Constitution," he said.