Pegasus Spyware: Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas Files A Plea in Supreme Court Seeking A SIT Probe
(Judicial Quest News Network)
Rajya Sabha MP Communist Party of India (Marxist) from Kerala John Brittas has moved a petition in Supreme Court seeking a Court-Monitored inquiry in the Pegasus snooping of Journalists, activist, Supreme Court Judges and CBI officers.
The plea is filed through Advocate Resmitha. R. Chandran.
The petitioner contends that it is matter of a concern that the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article-19 (1)(a) is infracted as the snooping has an impact on the actions of the individual resulting in a chilling effect on free speech and expression.
Quoting to the Statement of the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnav in the parliament the petitioners says that “It is only an evasive statement from the Government”.
It is also averred in the petition that the union minister for Electronic and Information technology has neither denied nor admitted the snooping by spyware. It is pointed out that the “no unauthorized interception” has taken place.
Any authorized snooping can be done in our country only by following the procedures of lawful interceptions mandated by the laws under the provisions of Section 5(2) of Indian Telegraph Act 1885, Section 69 of
the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2000, Section 92 of CrPC and Rule 419(a) of the Indian Telegraph Rules.
If the Government stick on to the statement of the hon’ble minister for Electronics and IT-in the Parliament on 28th November 2019 that there had not been “no unauthorized interception”, the current interception can only be considered as an authorized interception. Hence the Government needs to investigate into the revelation of The Wire& to appraise the reasons for the interceptions made to the gadgets of its own ministers, staff, Constitutional authorities including Election Commissioners& Judges, CBI Officers, Supreme Court Staffer, activists, scientists and journalists.
On 19th July 2021, a consortium of 17 international media organizations, including The Wire published an investigation around a leaked list of phone numbers from across the world, named the Pegasus Project.
The mainstream media have also widely telecasted the news. These numbers in the leaked list are allegedly the “target list” of phones hacked /to be hacked by the Pegasus spyware product sold by Israel’s NSO Group.
The aspect of interception in the phones of former Election Commission member shows that fundamental of democracy and free and fair elections are also shaken.
The petitioner further contends that Snooping, phone tapping, Wiretapping, line bugging etc. are the monitoring of the phone or the internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert
acts and the same is a critical invasion into an individual’s privacy. This is in clear derogation of Article-21 of the Indian Constitution unambiguously stating that no person shall be deprived of his life for
personal liberty except according to the procedure established by law. India is a country with a well-established procedure through which lawful interception of electronic communication is permitted to be carried out, for the purpose of national security, particularly on the occurrence of any public emergency or in the interest of public
safety, by agencies at the Centre and the State.
Earlier a Delhi-based Advocate ML Sharma said the use of Pegasus is not just eavesdropping on conversations; it can be used to access the entire digital imprint of your life. It renders helpless not just the owner of the phone hacked but everyone who is in contact with them.
The plea further says that if it is done by some foreign agency, it is an act of external aggression which also needs to be dealt in a serious manner.
