Supreme Court-appointed technical committee said there was no conclusive proof of the Pegasus spyware on 29 phones that were submitted for probe. The committee added that it found malware on five phones, but it was unclear whether the malware could be linked to Pegasus.
The technical committee added that the Centre did not cooperate with the probe and reiterated the stand it took in court of not disclosing whether it illegally snooped on citizens using Pegasus.
The Outgoing Chief Justice of India NV Ramana-led bench on Thursday perused the sealed report submitted by its technical committee headed by ex-Supreme Court judge R Raveendran that was tasked to probe allegations of Centre-sponsored illegal snooping on citizens using the Israeli-made spyware Pegasus.
Initially inclined to make the report public, the bench then revisited this idea when a few petitioners expressed their apprehension and adjourned the matter by three weeks. The bench also comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli then said they would read the voluminous report before taking a call on which parts of the report could be made available.
The SC-appointed committee submitted its report in three parts which contained information about the malware, its properties, how law enforcement can use it, public research material, information on how new malware can be created and material extracted from private mobile instruments that may contain sensitive information.
In October 2021, the Supreme Court constituted an expert panel on a batch of nine pleas seeking a court-monitored probe in the alleged use of Pegasus, military-grade spyware against a top court judge (since retired) and staff registry, members of the Opposition, journalists, civil rights activists, businessmen among others.
The bench had rejected the Centre's request to dismiss the plea and form its own committee. "Such committees have been formed to probe the falsity and discover truth. Right to privacy violation needs to be examined. No clear stand by Union of India. There is also a serious concern of foreign agency involvement by surveilling Indians," the top court had said.
"We live in the era of information. We must recognise that while technology is important, it is important to safeguard right to privacy of not only journalists but for all citizens," the three-judge bench added.