Setback for Modi govt: Apex court to form Pegasus probe committee
A Supreme Court bench said on Thursday that it would set up a panel to investigate the allegations of spying using the Pegasus software, allegedly at the behest of the government or its agencies.
In a setback to the BJP-led Union government, the Supreme Court on Thursday said it would appoint a committee next week to investigate the complaints related to alleged spying using the Israeli Pegasus software. The people involved are ordinary citizens, including opposition leaders, journalists, activists and others.
Chief Justice Ramana was hearing another matter when he told one of the lawyers—senior counsel CU Singh, who also represents journalist N Ram, one of the Pegasus petitioners—of this development. He asked Singh to inform the other lawyers about the bench’s decision to appoint the panel in the case.
His remarks are significant given that the government, in the last hearing on September 13, had offered to set up a committee to inquire into the allegations of violation of privacy and submit its report to the Supreme Court. The government made this offer following strong remarks from the Justice Ramana-led bench over the government’s refusal to file a detailed affidavit, citing “national security”.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for two petitioners, had then said, “… don’t want to hamper national security … (but) if Pegasus was used, ordinary citizens targeted, it is very serious,” but had strongly objected to the government setting up a committee of its own as the allegations were levelled against the government itself.
The allegations were made via media reports from an international consortium that included The Wire from India and said mobile phones of those critical of governments (the Central and state governments) had been hacked using a software called Pegasus, made by the Herzliya, Israel-based NSO Group.
The consortium reported that more than 50,000 phone numbers around the world were potentially targeted by the spyware, and that that at least 10 governments are believed to be the NSO Group’s customers: India, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Hungary and the UAE.
The government has, of course, denied all allegations, with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi in August calling the matter a “non-issue” and therefore, rejecting calls for a discussion in Parliament, and newly-appointed IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw telling Parliament during the monsoon session that “checks and balances” in India’s judicial and executive systems precluded such illegal activities.
