SC appoints expert committee to investigate Pegasus snooping allegations

A bench comprising Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli pronounced the verdict on October 27 on a batch of pleas seeking independent probe into the Pegasus snooping matter.

The Supreme Court has appointed an independent expert committee into the allegations of spying using Israeli spyware Pegasus. The committee is expected to submit a report to the apex court in eight weeks.

This expert committee will be headed by RV Raveendran, former SC Judge,  and two other members. The committee will also be assisted by three technical experts in the area of cybersecurity, digital forensics, and network and hardware.

Expert committee

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana, and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli pronounced the verdict on October 27 on a batch of pleas seeking independent probe in the issue.

In the order, the CJI said that there has been no specific denial by the Centre in the issue, thus "we have no option but to accept the submissions of petitioner prima facie and we appoint an expert committee whose function will be overseen by the Supreme Court."

Apart from Raveendran, the two members others who will assist in the investigation include Alok Joshi, former IPS officer, Sandeep Oberoi, Chairman Subcommittee of international relations, and three technical members experts - Naveen Kumar Chaudhary, P Prabhakaran, and Ashwin Anil Gumaste.

The  judgement comes in the wake of multiple pleas seeking an independent probe related to reports of alleged snooping by government agencies on journalists, eminent citizens, and politicians using Israeli firm NSO's spyware Pegasus.

Supreme Court order

Pronouncing the judgement on Wednesday, CJI Ramana said, "The present batch of matters is with regarding to use of modern technology.... this court is called upon to examine the use of such a technology. Our effort is to uphold the constitutional principle without being consumed into political rhetoric."

The CJI said that while we live in the era of information and technology can be used to improve lives of people, there is a reasonable expectation that people privacy is important and should be protected, not only journalists but for all citizens.

The CJI further said that "it is undeniable that under surveillance it affects the right and freedom of people and how it is exercised." Such restriction, the Judge said that should pass constitutional scrutiny and has got to be evidence-based.

"It is also about freedom of the press and the important role played by them, (since) such technology may have a chilling effect on the right to press," he noted.

The reason that it is done for national security is not enough, and the government should justify the same. "They must justify the stand that they have taken before the court. The mere mention of national security by the state does not render the immune," the CJI said. The court, the CJI said, is appointing an expert committee to investigate the allegation of spying through Pegasus.

Pegasus spyware

An international media consortium had reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were on the list of potential targets for surveillance using Pegasus spyware. The petitions were filed by Advocate ML Sharma, journalists N Ram and Shashi Kumar, CPI (M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas, five Pegasus targets (Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, SNM Abdi, Prem Shankar Jha, Rupesh Kumar Singh and Ipsa Shatakshi), social activist Jagdeep Chhokkarm, Narendra Kumar Mishra and Editors Guild of India .

The bench had reserved order on September 13, saying it only wanted to know whether or not the Centre used the Pegasus spyware through illegal methods to allegedly snoop on citizens. The apex court had observed orally that it would set up a technical expert committee to inquire into the matter and pass an interim order on the pleas seeking an independent probe into the grievances of the alleged surveillance of certain eminent Indians by hacking their phones using Israeli firm NSO's spyware, Pegasus.

In the September 13 order, the bench said that it only wanted to know from the Centre, which expressed unwillingness to file a detailed affidavit citing national security, whether Pegasus was used to allegedly spy on individuals and if it was done lawfully.

The Centre maintained it did not wish to file a detailed affidavit on whether a particular software is used or not as it was not a matter for public discussion and will not be in the "larger national interest". The law officer had contended that the disclosure whether the country was using a particular software or not may cause harm and alert all potential targets, including terror groups.