Supreme Court’s second notice in Pegasus case: Now the deadline of the investigation committee to submit the victims of Pegasus spying is February 8
Everyone wants an investigation into the Pegasus espionage case, but no one is ready to cooperate for it. Only two people have submitted their phones to the technical committee of the Supreme Court probing the matter. Now the committee has once again issued a public notice. In this notice issued on Thursday, the committee has asked people related to this matter to submit their phones by 8 February 2022.
The Supreme Court panel had earlier also issued notice on January 2, 2022. It was said in that notice that those who believe that their phones have been hacked through Pegasus, they should submit their phones to the committee for software investigation. In the notice issued on Thursday, the committee has told that after the first notice, only 2 people have submitted the phones.
The software purchase was disclosed in the New York Times report
An advocate named ML Sharma had filed a petition in the Supreme Court on 30 January. A New York Times report was based on this petition. This report claimed that the Modi government had bought the Israeli spyware Pegasus in 2017 under a defense deal. In the petition, the Supreme Court was demanded that this defense deal should be investigated.
Sharma had also said that the deal was not approved by Parliament, so it should be canceled after recovering the money. The Supreme Court was also demanded to direct the registration of a criminal case in this matter.
Pegasus was the first to be discussed in India in 2019
The country was first accused of spying on the phones of hundreds of journalists, human rights activists and several politicians through Pegasus in 2019. There were claims of hacking of Pegasus victims’ phones, including WhatsApp, and other important information.
In July 2021, a consortium of media groups revealed that Pegasus spy software or spyware is being used to spy on many big journalists-businessmen and politicians around the world including India.
Supreme Court committee is investigating on Pegasus
In the Pegasus case, the Supreme Court had constituted an expert committee on 27 October 2021. Retired Supreme Court Justice RV Raveendran was made its chairman. While setting up the committee, the Supreme Court had said that everyone’s privacy should be protected.
The court had said that the Center has not ruled out the use of Pegasus in its reply, so we have no other option but to allow the petitioner’s petition. During this, the Supreme Court had condemned the logic of national security of the central government. The court had said that the Center cannot be free by saying that every issue is related to national security.
Committee is investigating on these points
- Has the Pegasus spyware been used in the phone or any other device of the people of India?
- Who are the people who have been the victims of this spyware attack?
- What steps were taken by the government after the information about hacking of WhatsApp account with Pegasus spyware in 2019 surfaced?
- Has the central or any state government or any central or state agency used Pegasus spyware to spy on the people of the country?
- If an agency has used it for spying on people, then under what law, rule, guideline, protocol or legal process it was done?
- If any other person or entity has used this spyware are they authorized to do so?
How does Pegasus spyware work?
Pegasus targets iPhone and Android devices. Pegasus can be installed remotely on any phone or any other device. One can also install Pegasus on your phone by just making a missed call. Not only this, it can also be installed on your phone through WhatsApp message, text message, SMS and social media.
Actually, Pegasus is a ‘zero click’ software version, that is, it does not require a user to click on any link or attachment to break into your phone like other hacking software.
As soon as it is installed in the phone, it steals the data of all the emails, every picture, every message and all the personal contacts of the phone in a few minutes. Also controls from the location of the phone to its camera and microphone.
