Modi government didn’t cooperate with Pegasus spyware inquiry, Supreme Court says

The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Narendra Modi government didn’t cooperate with the independent committee charged with investigating the illegal surveillance of citizens using Pegasus spyware, Live Law reported. The court also observed that the government refused to clearly state if it had bought the Israeli spyware or not.

An investigation by a consortium of media organisations last year had revealed that Pegasus, sold by Israel’s NSO Group, was used to illegally spy on people across the world. In India, at least 40 people, including politicians, journalists and activists, were spied on.

The observations were made orally by a bench led by Chief Justice NV Ramana while hearing a clutch of petitions calling for an inquiry into the spying scandal. “One thing the committee has said, the government of India has not cooperated,” Ramana told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the government. “The same stand you took here, you have taken there.”

The court also noted that the committee had found malware on only five of the 29 devices submitted to it as evidence. It is unclear if the malware was Pegasus.

Those who had submitted their devices to the committee had asked that the inquiry report not be made public. The court said that it will consider if a redacted version of the report can be released. However, the report submitted by Justice RV Raveendran, who was overseeing the committee, will be released.