Context

Pegasus Farce Came Undone In The Supreme Court

Ujjawal MishraAug 25, 2022, 07:58 PM | Updated 07:58 PM IST
The Supreme Court (Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

The Supreme Court (Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)


An SC-appointed panel has concluded that Pegasus spyware's presence can't be established on the devices examined.

The expert committee was constituted to investigate the allegations of misuse of Pegasus spyware.

  • It was alleged that the spyware was used to target nearly 300 Indians, including politicians, government servants, journalists, and others.

  • Headed by former SC Justice RV Raveendran, the expert technical committee to look into claims included Alok Joshi (former IPS Officer) and Dr Sundeep Oberoi, Chair, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7.

  • The panel submitted its report to the apex court in July.

  • A certain malware was detected in five mobile phones out of the 29 examined.

  • "It cannot be said to be Pegasus," remarked the bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli.

  • What's Pegasus? It's highly advanced spyware that can gain access to someone’s cell phone after the user clicks on a link sent by the spyware or even with a missed call.

    • After the link click, Pegasus begins to contact control servers that allow the Israeli spyware to send commands to gather data from the infected device.

  • Pegasus can allegedly steal passwords, contacts, text messages, calendar information, as well as voice and video calls made through WhatsApp, and even track live location.

  • The controversy erupted in July 2021 when the online left-wing website The Wire published a report alleging that the Government of India had engaged in mass surveillance.

    • The phone numbers of the targets of electronic surveillance by government agencies were apparently on a leaked list accessed by Amnesty International and the French non-profit Forbidden Stories.

  • The detractors of the Modi government went all out, shouting death of democracy and arrival of fascism in India.

  • Then came the judiciary: Multiple petitions were filed in the apex court calling for an investigation into the allegations.

    • Petitioners included the former union minister Yashwant Sinha, CPM MP John Brittas, SC advocate ML Sharma, the Editors' Guild of India, and individual journalists.

  • The SC, in its order, set up an enquiry panel.


    • The expert committee issued a public notice on 2 January 2022 calling on all who suspected their mobile devices to have been hacked, infected, or compromised by Pegasus software to contact the panel.

  • More than a month after this notice, only two members submitted their mobile devices to the committee, one of them J Gopikrishnan, a correspondent for The Pioneer.

  • If the assault on privacy was severe, why was there such a tepid response to the investigation?

  • Inconsistencies! Things didn't add up in The Wire's exposé.

    • The phrase "potential targets of surveillance" was used in the opening sentence of the report. Why the uncertainty if the allegation was as serious as claimed?

  • The so-called "leaked list" was nowhere to be found.

  • In the Pegasus case, there was nothing — no list, no phones, no proof of government snooping, and certainly no third-party corroboration.

  • Why the story? The Pegasus story is an exercise in narrative-building.

    • It paints the usual suspects as the wounded party and heightens their public image of victimhood. The opposition is trying to generate sympathy.

  • It paints Israelis and ‘Hindu-majoritarians’ as a sinister lot hell bent on using nefarious methods to bring down a noble, activist edifice.

  • It puts further pressure on intelligence agencies seeking to unravel the cross-border nature of modern, global, electronically funded activism.

  • Bottom line: Now that the opposition stands exposed, their strategy of mudslinging is going to further erode their credibility.

    • In place of a solid, issue-based opposition, India has this sorry lot which resorts to planting baseless stories.

  • Now that the Pegasus scandal has turned out to be gas, the noise-makers must answer why they wasted the Parliament's time over a non-issue.

  • Join our WhatsApp channel - no spam, only sharp analysis