On August 25, the Supreme Court said that no conclusive proof have emerged to support the claim that Indian govt was using the Pegasus spyware to snoop on people. CJI Ramana said that the apex court-appointed committee probing the matter has concluded that the Israeli spyware was not found in the 29 mobile phones it examined.
CJI: We are uploading it on the website and there is no secret. we are concerned about technical committee 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
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) August 25, 2022
The bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana, Justice Surya Kant, and Justice Hima Kohli noted that there was some malware found in 5 of the 29 devices, it was not Pegasus. The bench said, “We are concerned about technical committee 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 committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice RV Raveendran submitted its report in July. Other members included in the committee were former IPS officer Alok Joshi and Chairman of the Sub-committee in International Organisation of Standardisation/International Electro-Technical Commission/Joint Technical Committee Dr Sundee Oberoi.
The Court further noted that the Government of India did not assist the committee in the probe. The Court noted that while considering the future of the case, the apex court might upload the report on the court’s website. The case has been adjourned for four weeks.
As per reports, the court-appointed committee has recommended the enactment of a law on surveillance and improving the right to privacy, enhancing the cyber security of the nation, strengthening the protection of the right to privacy of citizens, and also a mechanism for raising grievances regarding surveillance which is illegal.
The Court said that it might upload the committee report on the website after Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal and advocate Vrinda Grover said they have a right to know what kind of malware was found on the phones and sought a copy of the report. Sibal said, “We don’t have portions which have national security implications, but we need to know what the malware was and if a redacted version can be given to the ones who gave their phones.”
However, the CJI added that some people of the 29 who had submitted their phones for examination have requested that the report should not be made public. Therefore, the court will decide which parts of the report can be made public without compromising the confidentiality of the persons who submitted their phones.
CJI: We will look into this and see which portions can be released
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) August 25, 2022
Sr Adv Sibal: we dont have portions which have national security implications but we need to know what was the malware and if a redacted version can be given to the ones who gave their phones #pegasus
The Pegasus controversy
The Pegasus snooping issue started on July 18, 2021, when a group of media networks and investigative reporters claimed that among the 50,000 phone numbers chosen for infection with the Pegasus malware were those of Indian ministers, legislators, activists, entrepreneurs, and journalists.
Notably, Israel-based company NSO which built the spyware, claims that it only deals with governments and not private entities. However, it never disclosed who its clients were. Several international media outlets, including The Wire from India, released a series of reports claiming the Indian government used the spyware. The reports were based on an “analysis” done by a team of Amnesty International. It is notable that the Supreme Court-appointed committee had also used the tool develop by Amnesty to detect the spyware, along with various other tools.
The issue was raised in Lok Sabha as well, where the Government of India categorically denied snooping or indulging in any illegal surveillance on any Indian citizen. So far, no concrete proof has been provided by any entity that could support the claims made against the government of India in the matter.
On August 6, a report in Hindustan Times noted that the committee had found no traces of Pegasus spyware in the gadgets it had examined.
