Of 29 Phones, Malware Found on 5 But No Proof to Show it Was Due to Pegasus, Says SC-Appointed Panel

The Centre did not cooperate with the probe into the Pegasus spyware row, the apex court-appointed technical and supervisory committees to look into the matter said. A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said on Thursday that the panel also found some kind of malware in five mobile phones out of the 29 examined.

The court will now hear the matter after four weeks. The bench also comprising justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli said the panel has submitted its lengthy report in three parts and one part suggested amending the law to protect the right to privacy of citizens and ensure cyber security of the nation.

It said the report of the overseeing judge (Justice retired) R V Raveendran, which is general in nature, would be uploaded on its website. The bench said it would consider the plea to give redacted part of other reports to the parties. The bench on October 27 last year had ordered a probe into the allegations of use of Israeli spyware by government agencies for targeted surveillance of politicians, journalists, and activists.

The panel, which included three experts on cyber security, digital forensics, networks, and hardware, was asked to inquire, investigate and determine whether Pegasus spyware was used for snooping on citizens and their probe would be monitored by a former apex court judge Raveendran. The panel members were Naveen Kumar Chaudhary, Prabaharan P, and Ashwin Anil Gumaste.

The apex court had also observed that the state cannot get a “free pass” every time the spectre of national security is raised and that its mere invocation cannot render the judiciary a “mute spectator” and be the bugbear it shies away from.

The technical committee appointed by the Supreme Court had issued a public notice in January asking citizens to come forward and contact the panel if they suspected that their mobile devices were infected by Pegasus malware.

The public notice asked such citizens to also specify the reasons as to why they believed that their device may have been infected with Pegasus malware, and whether they would be in a position to allow the technical committee to examine the said device.

(With inputs from PTI)

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