Opposition Leader and former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that the ruling YSRCP is illegally tapping phones of opposition parties leaders, lawyers, journalists and activists in the state. The letter comes a day after YSRCP rebel MP K Raghu Rama Krishna Raju posed an allegation on Sunday that two of his mobile phones were being illegally tapped for the past few months by state Intelligence authorities.
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Stating that there has been a “concerted attack on the democratic institutions in the state” ever since the YSRCP came to power, Naidu alleged that the YSRCP has been tapping the phones of various persons and “has not followed any due procedure of law” in doing so. Citing Section 5(2) of The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and Section 69 of The Information Technology Act, 2000, Naidu wrote that while the law only allows phone tapping in cases like a threat to national security, the YSRCP-led government has been “tapping phones illegally for its own political gains.”
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He wrote that the alleged phone-tapping “directly stands against Article 19 and 21 of fundamental rights guaranteed in the constitution, wherein right to privacy is violated.” Naidu appealed to PM Modi to “initiate immediate and stern action in order to check any further unlawful activities (phone tapping) by the ruling party and private persons in Andhra Pradesh.” He asked the PM to “order an inquiry by a competent body of the Government of India to check the illegal acts of phone tapping in Andhra Pradesh.”
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