Pegasus Row: Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas moves Supreme Court for SIT probe

Slamming the inaction of the Centre and lamenting claims that it did not pry on citizens using Israeli spyware- Pegasus, Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas of Communist Marxist Party of India (Marxist) filed a writ petition moving the Supreme Court for a court-monitored probe executed by a Special Investigation Team into the alleged snooping of journalists, activists and politicians using the malicious software. 

The petition is pursuant to the statements by Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Yadav in the Parliament to state that the Government of India neither denied nor affirmed the allegations of snooping by Pegasus spyware. Despite the nature of grave allegations, the petitioner stresses that GOI did not pay heed to investigate the matter. 

The plea read, "It is only an evasive statement of the Government. The Government has unequivocally accepted the statement of the company, NSO, which owns the alleged spyware technology and blindly accepted their version without investigation."

The plea also points out that GOI had said that "no unauthorised interception" had taken place which gives rise to the query- if the interception was authorised and the Centre has not come forth with a clarification on how such interception was sanctioned.

"Pegasus spyware is grave violation of fundamental rights": MP John Brittas' plea

The petitioner in his plea before SC has sought an SIT to probe the matter because the issue involves citizens' fundamental right to privacy and gross exploitation of the Centre's power to keep an eye on its citizens or persons in concern. 

"If the Pegasus Spyware was used in an unauthorised manner that is in violation of fundamental rights under Article 19(1)(a) and 21 and also a slap on the face of the right to privacy upheld by this Hon'ble Court in Puttaswamy case. There is also a violation of the provisions of IT Act & Indian Telegraph Act for which strict penal action needs to be done after an immediate, independent, transparent," the plea further read. 

What is Pegasus spyware row?

A report by sixteen media houses claimed that 300 verified Indian mobile telephone numbers were allegedly spied upon using Israeli surveillance technology firm Pegasus - which only has 36 vetted governments as its clients. As per a 'leaked' database, numbers of those allegedly spied upon include over 40 journalists, three major opposition figures, one constitutional authority, two serving cabinet ministers, current and former heads, and officials of security organizations and businessmen. The target also includes the eight activists currently accused and incarcerated in the Bhima Koregaon case. The report claimed that the leaked numbers mainly belong to ten countries - India, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.