Apologise or pay damages of Rs 100 crore: Chennai advocate sends NYT 'legal notice' over Pegasus report

A Chennai advocate issued a legal notice to the New York Times today for its "mischievous and malicious" report on India's deal with Israel to buy the Pegasus spyware.

Accusing the newspaper of publishing a report that had not been "corroborative or authenticated by the Israel NSO Group", advocate M Srinivasan said India's reputation had been "badly affected by the libel news article".

Srinivasan demanded that NYT issue an apology on its front page within the next week or face "legal consequences and damages to the tune of One Hundred Crore Indian Rupees or Thirteen point Nine Million US Dollars".

The report in question was published by the New York Times on January 28. It said that in 2017, India and Israel agreed to a $2 billion sale of a “package” of weapons and intelligence gear. It further stated that Pegasus and a missile system were the “centerpieces” of this deal. It noted India’s vote supporting Israel at the United Nations Economic and Social Council to deny observer status to a Palestinian human rights organisation in 2019.

As mentioned in Srinivasan's letter, India's former UN envoy Syed Akbaruddin called the NYT's allegations "utter rubbish". Given this, the advocate said NYT had "brought bad reputation" to India "among the friendly nations of the world".

Newslaundry's phone calls to Srinivasan's mobile number went unanswered.