New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday revised a batch of requests next week to investigate the alleged unauthorized use of Pegasus spyware to monitor journalists.
Justices of Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh issued a hearing on April 29.
Senior advocate Shyam Divan, who appeared for some petitioners, said the top courts that had previously directed the supply of technical team reports but did not share such reports.
“The court will have to pass some instructions because we have not received the report yet. Please hear urgently,” Divan said.
Next week directed a bench to list the matter.
On March 7, the Supreme Court amended the trial on April 22.
On August 25, 2022, the Supreme Court stated that it appointed a technical team to explore the use of unauthorized use of Pegasus, and some malware was found in five of the 29 checked phones, but it cannot be considered using Israeli spyware.
After carefully reading the report submitted by former Apex Court Justice RV Raveendran, the Supreme Court said the central government has not cooperated with Pegasus Probe.
In 2021, the Supreme Court ordered an investigation into the use of Israeli spyware by government agencies to targeted surveillance against politicians, journalists and activists, and appointed a technical and oversight committee to review the matter.
The Oversight Team submitted a “length” three-part report, one of which recommended amendments to law to protect citizens’ privacy and ensure national cybersecurity.
The Supreme Court asked the technical team to include three experts on cybersecurity, digital forensics, networking and hardware to “ask, investigate and determine” whether Pegasus spyware is used to spy on citizens, and Raveendran will monitor their investigations.
The group members are Naveen Kumar Chaudhary, Prabaharan P and Ashwin Anil Gumaste.
Justice Raveendran, who led the team, monitored the technical team’s inquiry with the assistance of IPS official Alok Joshi and cybersecurity expert Sundeep Oberoi.
The Supreme Court order said the investigative team would have the right to inquire and investigate the steps or actions taken by the center after a 2019 report using Pegasus suite of Spyware to claim violations of Indian citizens by Indian citizens.
It also directed the group to determine whether the Union of India, any state government, any central or state agency has purchased any Pegasus kits for use against Indian citizens.
An international media alliance reportedly listed over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers using Pegasus spyware.
