No conclusive evidence to show the presence of Pegasus spyware in phones examined by tech pannel says SC

The apex court also said that the technical committee concluded that these five phones have malware on poor cyber security.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said that according to the report submitted by the technical committee on the Pegasus issue, no conclusive evidence has been found in relation to the use of Pegasus spyware in 29 mobile phones examined by the panel. The bench hearing the case comprised Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Hima Kohli stated that the committee has said that the Government of India has not cooperated.

During the hearing apex court also said that the technical committee "concluded that these five phones have malware on poor cyber security, we will see how far we can release this report." The report was filled in three parts two of which were submitted by the technical committee and the remaining one by an overseeing committee headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court Justice RV Raveendran, said the Supreme Court.

The technical committee stated that the reports contained information about malware, information on public research material, and material extracted from private mobile instruments which are confidential and are not for public distribution. It further stated that these five phones were infected with malware because of their poor cyber security.

The overseeing judge Raveendran submitted a report on protecting citizens, the future course of action, accountability, surveillance, suggestions on how to protect, recommendations etc. Earlier, several pleas were filed before the top court on snooping row by senior journalists N Ram, and Sashi Kumar, Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas of Communist Marxist Party of India (Marxist) and advocate ML Sharma, former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, RSS ideologue KN Govindacharya.

Journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, SNM Abdi, Prem Shankar Jha, Rupesh Kumar Singh and Ipsa Shatakshi, who are reported to be on the potential list of snoop targets of Pegasus spyware, had also approached the top court along with The Editors Guild of India (EGI) among others.

The pleas sought an inquiry headed by a sitting or retired judge of the top court to investigate the alleged snooping. The pleas said that the targeted surveillance using military-grade spyware is an unacceptable violation of the right to privacy which has been held to be a fundamental right under Articles 14, 19 and 21 by the Supreme Court in KS Puttaswamy case. (with Agency inputs)