Serious, if true: SC on Pegasus scandal

The Supreme Court said that if the media reports about Pegasus spyware and snooping allegations are true, the matter is serious. The bench was addressing petitions filed seeking a special investigation into the scandal.

The two-member bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justice Surya Kant heard petitions by CMP MP John Brittas, advocate ML Sharma, Senior journalists N Ram and Sashi Kumar, and the Editors Guild of India. All petitions requested a Special Investigation Team headed by a sitting or former judge into the snooping allegations, reported The Indian Express.

The Editor's Guild of India requested that the Supreme Court seek details of the spyware contract from the Indian government.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who is representing the petitioners, called Pegasus a rogue technology that enters people's lives without their knowledge. He added that it is an assault on the privacy, dignity, and values of the Indian Republic.

Chief Justice NV Ramana said that to his knowledge, no efforts were made to get more information about the allegations against Pegasus after the reports of snooping came out in 2019. "I am not going into facts of each case, some people claim phones are intercepted. There is a Telegraph Act for complaints," he added.

A consortium of 17 international media, including Indian media 'The Wire', carried out a global investigation and leaked a list of targeted numbers from the NSO database, the proprietor of Pegasus spyware. 300 numbers were from India and included opposition leaders, politicians of the ruling party, journalists, businessmen, judges, and human rights activists.

The media report did not claim that the phones were hacked but stated that these numbers were targeted. An investigation led by the France government later confirmed that traces of spyware was found on some phones. French Prime Minister and his cabinet members were among the targets.

NSO Group has repeatedly said that they designed Pegasus spyware to be used in investigations against criminal and terrorist activities, and they only sell it to governments.

The Indian government has denied the snooping allegations and rejected requests for an investigation.