The Supreme Court will hear the petition filed by the Editors' Guild of India, seeking a Special Investigation Team probe into the Pegasus row, reports NDTV. The Guild has requested the court to seek details of the spyware contract and the list of those targeted from the government.
The Guild's petition is amongst the slew of those filed in the court regarding the Pegasus row. A consortium of global media houses revealed in July that several including heads of state, political figures, activists, students, lawyers and journalists, among others, were being spied upon by the Israel based NSO's Pegasus spyware. NSO has alleged that it sells the spyware only to governments to keep track of terrorist activities. 155
Senior journalists N Ram and Sashi Kumar, CPM MP John Brittas, and advocate ML Sharma had also earlier approached the court to ask the government to reveal if it obtained a license for the spyware or used it to conduct surveillance. Following the grand reveal, senior journalist and former Economic and Political Weekly editor Parajoy Guha Thakurta and four others who featured on the alleged list of those targeted by Pegasus also filed petitions requesting that the installation or use of spyware be declared "illegal and unconstitutional". The petition argues that the authorised use of surveillance by the government violated their fundamental rights as guaranteed by the constitution.
The list of those targeted includes 40 journalists from across Hindustan Times, including executive editor Shishir Gupta, India Today, Network18, The Hindu and Indian Express, reports The Wire. It also includes The Wire's two founding editors and two of its regular contributors. Forensic analysis of the cellphones of several by the Security Lab of Amnesty International has confirmed a security breach. Meanwhile, in the parliament, the opposition has been demanding a discussion on the reveal since the onset of the Monsoon session. However, the ruling government has been obstinately opposing the same, claiming it to be a non-issue.