New Delhi:
The central government using spyware for national security is not wrong unless it targets civil society, the Supreme Court today, while hearing petitions linked to the Pegasus case. The court also said details of an investigation report by its committee into the snooping allegations cannot be made public because it concerns the security and sovereignty of the country. The court also mentioned that there is a need for caution due to the “kind of situation we are facing”, hinting at the Pahalgam terror attack.
The court said anyone who suspects that he was snooped upon using Pegasus — spyware developed by the Israeli cyber-arms company NSO Group — can approach the court and would get a response on whether he was targeted.
When Senior Advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for a petitioner, said that the entire report must be publicly available, Justice Surya Kant replied, “Any report which touches security and sovereignty of the country it will not be touched. But individuals who want to know whether they are included, that can be informed.”
When the petitioners referred to a US district court judgment last year that held Pegasus maker NSO Group liable for the targeting of about 1,400 devices, the court said, “Show us the US district court judgment. Yes, individual apprehension must be addressed, but it cannot be made a document for discussion on the streets.”
“The kind of situation we are facing now, we have to be careful,” Justice Kant, referring to the Pahalgam tragedy in which terrorists killed 25 tourists and a Kashmiri pony ride operator dead.
“What is wrong if the country is using spyware? Let us be clear, no issue in having spyware. It can be used against some… Let us not compromise the security of the nation. Yes, using against whom is the question? Of course, if it is used against a civil society person, of course, that will be looked at,” the bench, also comprising Justice N Kotiswar Singh, said.
The petitioners have demanded that the report of the Supreme Court’s technical committee into allegations of snooping through Pegasus be made public.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, asked what could be the objection to the use of Pegasus against terrorists. “Terrorists have no right to privacy,” he said.
What Is Pegasus Row
In 2021, a consortium of 17 news organisations investigated a massive data leak and the probe revealed a list of 50,000 phone numbers that were allegedly snooped upon using Pegasus.
The alleged targets in India included Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa, Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee and multiple journalists and activists. The revelations raised a political storm, with the Opposition going all-out against the government.
The government responded that the allegations regarding surveillance on specific people has “no concrete basis of truth”. Stressing that there is a process in place for any interception, the government said this procedure ensures any interception, monitoring or decryption of any information through any computer resource “is done as per due process of law”.
Amid the row, the Supreme Court’s technical committee probed the snooping allegations. The committee found no proof of Pegasus in the 29 phones it examined, but found malware in five of them.
