- NET Web Desk
On Wednesday, October 27, the Supreme Court (SC) ordered an independent probe into the recent Pegasus surveillance matter.
A three-member expert committee under supervision of the apex court have been constituted for initiating further investigation on the same.
The decision has been undertaken by an SC bench comprising of Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices – Surya Kant and Hima Kohli.
“There has been no specific denial by Centre in the issue, thus we have no option but to accept the submissions of petitioner prima facie and we appoint an expert committee whose function will be overseen by the Supreme Court,” asserted the SC bench.
This expert panel will be headed by the former SC judge Justice RV Raveendran.
It will be assisted by the Chairman, Sub Committee in (International Organisation of Standardisation/ International Electro-Technical Commission/Joint Technical Committee) Dr. Sundeep Oberoi; and former IPS Officer Alok Joshi.
Meanwhile, three members of the Technical Committee will incorporate of – Dean, National Forensic Sciences University, Gujarat Dr. Naveen Kumar Chaudhary; Dr. Prabaharan P of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kerala; and Dr. Ashwin Anil Gumaste of IIT Bombay.
According to the SC bench, this violation of ‘Right to Privacy’ requires to be scrutinized.
It further added that several pleas were filed, seeking for an independent probe but the apex court was not satisfied with such pleas as these were specifically based on media reports.
However, the Supreme Court have also received pleas which were filed by the victims, it noted.
Meanwhile, the bench also instructed this expert committee to look into the allegations, and place the report before it expeditiously.
The apex court informed that next hearing, regarding the matter will be held after eight weeks.
Pegasus is a spyware developed by the Israeli cyberarms firm, Niv, Shalev and Omri (NSO) Group that can be covertly installed on mobile phones.
It enables the remote surveillance of smartphones, targeting journalists and political leaders across the world.
The firm have been alleged of snooping into government agencies, eminent citizens, politicians, and even heads of several nations.
14 such leaders include – the South African president – Cyril Ramaphosa, the Pakistani prime minister – Imran Khan, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, French President Emmanuel Macron, Iraqi President Barham Salih, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Moroccan Prime Minister Saad-Eddine El Othmani, Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Former Ugandan Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, Former Algerian Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui, and Former Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel.
