New Delhi: The Supreme Court will pronounce its judgment today, October 27, on the batch of petitions seeking a judicial investigation into the revelations made by the Pegasus Project.On September 23, The Wire had reported on Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana having made oral announcements to senior advocate Chander Uday Singh that it is going to set up a technical committee to investigate the allegations of journalists, activists and scholars.In September, CJI Ramana had told Singh, who represents one of the petitioners, that the Supreme Court was keen to pass orders that week itself but had to defer it as members that the court had in mind for selection into the technical committee had expressed personal difficulties that have kept them from joining it.As part of the Pegasus Project, The Wire and other international publications had reported on a leaked database of phone numbers which could have been potentially snooped upon with the use of a malware sold by Israel’s NSO Group. The group has claimed it only has ‘vetted government’ clients. As the The Wire has revealed, in India, those potentially and successfully spied upon include opposition politicians, activists, industrialists, lawyers and journalists.A section of journalists, lawyers, activists and politicians – including five confirmed targets on whom the Pegasus software was used – moved Supreme Court with nine petitions in total, asking for a judicial probe into the matter.Despite calls from the opposition and civil society quarters, the Union government has not addressed the claims beyond IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s statement in parliament, on any form of illegal surveillance not being possible. Vaishnaw himself is on the list of potential victims of the spying operation.More importantly, The Wire has highlighted how Vaishnaw had misled the Lok Sabha by saying that there was “no factual basis” to claim an earlier Pegasus attack. The minister had stated in the House that “In the past, similar claims were made regarding the use of Pegasus on WhatsApp, those reports had no factual basis and has been denied by all parties….”Also read: Pegasus: Centre Tells SC It Doesn’t Want to File Affidavit Over ‘National Security Concerns’In the hearings, the Union government on September 13, had expressed distinct unwillingness to file a detailed affidavit on the matter, citing that it was concerned over national security. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had claimed that any affidavit could fall to the hands of terrorists.“We are repeatedly saying that we don’t want things on national security in public domain. Petitioners have also said. Suppose the committee is formed. Its report will also come in public domain,” the Supreme Court had said at the last hearing.The Pegasus Project is a collaborative investigation that involves more than 80 journalists from 17 news organisations in 10 countries coordinated by Forbidden Stories with the technical support of Amnesty International’s Security Lab. Read all our coverage here.Note: This report, originally published at 2.03 pm on October 26, 2021, was republished at 8:27 am on October 27, 2021.
