Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Oct.27: The Supreme Court convened an expert committee on Wednesday to investigate accusations that the Pegasus spyware was used to spy on Indian citizens, including journalists and political leaders.
The Supreme Court will oversee the committee’s operations, according to Chief Justice NV Ramana.
A series of petitions requesting an investigation into the claims were heard by the bench, which also included Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli.
CJI said during the hearing on Wednesday that privacy restrictions can only be applied in cases of national security.
“It is undeniable that under surveillance it affects the right and freedom of people and how it is exercised,” he said. “It also about freedom of press and the important role played by them, such technology may have chilling effect on right to press.”
The claims of spying include a leaked list of over 50,000 phone numbers obtained by the Paris-based media charity Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International. The list had been shared with 17 news sources around the world as part of the Pegasus Project.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, former Election Commissioner of India Ashok Lavasa, Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and Prahlad Singh Patel, industrialist Anil Ambani, and former Central Bureau of Investigation Director Alok Verma are among the potential targets in India, according to the Wire, which focused on the Indian portion of the list.
The Supreme Court had delayed its decision on the petitions on September 13 after the Centre declined to file an affidavit in the case.
Tushar Mehta, the Solicitor General, had stated that filing an affidavit on whether malware was used would “not serve national interest.” He further said that the spying charges “cannot be the topic of an affidavit, argument in court, or public conversation.”
The Centre had previously stated that it was impossible to reveal if the Pegasus spyware had been utilised due to national security concerns.
On September 23, Chief Justice NV Ramana told Chander Uday Singh, one of the lawyers in the Pegasus case, that the court would issue an order in a week establishing a technical committee to investigate the claims.
Ramana explained at the time that the order had been delayed because several of the committee members it had chosen were unavailable due to personal reasons. However, since Ramana’s oral remark, the court has not taken up the case.
The Supreme Court had stated at the case’s initial hearing on August 5 that the claims of surveillance, if true, were serious in character.
