Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: August 25, 2022 at 20:22 IST
The committee appointed by the Supreme Court to investigate allegations that the Indian government used Pegasus spyware has come to the conclusion that none of the 29 mobile phones it looked at contained any spyware.
After examining a lengthy report provided by the three-member expert committee, a Bench comprising of Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana, Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, noticed that while some malware was found in 5 of the 29 machines, Pegasus was not among them.
“We are concerned about the technical committee on 29 phones were given… in 5 phones some malware was found but the technical committee says it cannot be said to be Pegasus. They say it cannot be said to be Pegasus,” the Bench said.
The Court also gave a hint that it will consider about how to proceed with the case, adding that it might potentially post the report on the Court’s website.
After that, the case was adjourned for four weeks.
The Committee’s report made several recommendations, including passing legislation on surveillance; expanding national cyber security; strengthening the protection of citizens’ rights to privacy; and creating a procedure for complaining about illegal spying.
According to Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, who was representing one of the petitioners, they have a right to know what sort of malware, etc., was discovered. So he wanted a copy of the report.
The Indian government is accused of using Pegasus spyware, which was developed by an Israeli business, to spy on a number of people, including Indian journalists, activists, attorneys, officials, a former Supreme Court judge, and others, by infecting their electronic devices, including mobile phones.
A list of phone numbers that were selected as prospective targets was mentioned in the reports. According to the reports, a team from Amnesty International examined this data and discovered that some of them indicated successful Pegasus infections while others indicated attempted infections.
Following the reports, the Supreme Court received the applications that were submitted.