The Supreme court is likely to hear next week a petition filed by senior journalists N Ram and Sashi Kumar seeking judicial inquiry against surveillance of private citizens using military-grade Pegasus spyware. Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, senior advocate Kapil Sibal said, “This matter has huge ramifications on civil liberties as it involves surveillance of opposition leaders, journalists and activists. It’s creating waves not just in India but abroad as well.”
The bench, also comprising justice Surya Kant, agreed to Sibal’s request of taking up the matter next week without specifying a date. The petition by N Ram and Asian College of Journalism chairman Sashi Kumar also sought a response from the government on whether the Centre or any of its agencies obtained the license for Pegasus spyware or have used it to conduct surveillance on Indian citizens.
The petition has demanded an inquiry into the alleged illegal snooping by a retired or sitting judge of the top court to ascertain the extent of surveillance on Indian citizens and fix responsibility.
Pegasus software, developed by Israeli firm NSO Group, has been known to be an extremely sophisticated military software, the petition said, adding, “Such mass surveillance using a military-grade spyware abridges several fundamental rights and appears to represent an attempt to infiltrate, attack and destabilise independent institutions that act as critical pillars of our democratic set-up.”
The two journalists noted with concern how the Government has not categorically ruled out obtaining Pegasus licenses to conduct surveillance in the response given in Parliament by Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwani Vaishnav.
The present petition stated that the snooping allegations must be viewed with seriousness as it impacts their right to privacy and free speech protected under Articles 21 and 19(1)(a). Besides, the hacking of mobile phones using Pegasus spyware constitutes an offence punishable under various provisions of the Information technology Act. Also, the petition claims that the surveillance has been done bypassing the legal regime provided under Section 5(2) of the Telegraph Act which provides that surveillance can be done on grounds of public emergency or in the interest of public safety.
Two other petitions seeking an inquiry into the Pegasus snooping scandal have also been filed in the top court – one by advocate ML Sharma and another by Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas.
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