Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia categorically rejected allegations that the Sanchar Saathi app is a surveillance tool, asserting in Parliament on Wednesday that “snooping is neither possible nor will happen” through the application, emphasizing its sole purpose is to empower citizens against rising cyber fraud.

The controversy erupted after a Department of Telecommunications order dated November 28 directed all mobile manufacturers to pre-install the Sanchar Saathi app on every new handset sold in India and push it via mandatory software updates to existing devices, while ensuring the app remains visible, accessible, and non-disableable during initial setup.

Facing sharp criticism from opposition members and digital rights activists who branded the move an invasion of privacy, Minister of State for Communications Dr Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar defended the initiative outside Parliament, urging skeptics to personally examine the app and stating it represents the most effective safeguard available against the escalating menace of online financial fraud targeting vulnerable sections of society.

Also Read: Scindia Says Users Can Delete Sanchar Saathi, Rejects Allegations of Government Surveillance

Both ministers clarified that usage of the app remains entirely voluntary, with Scindia reiterating on Tuesday and Wednesday that citizens are free to delete Sanchar Saathi at any time, countering earlier interpretations of the DoT directive that suggested the application could not be removed from devices.

Launched in May 2023 as a citizen-centric portal and later expanded into a mobile application, Sanchar Saathi already records over 20 crore website visits and 1.4 crore downloads, offering features to verify mobile connections registered under one’s identity, report suspicious numbers, and trace lost or stolen phones, with the government maintaining that the platform has been thoroughly vetted by Apple and Google before appearing on their respective app stores.

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