'Cannot be mute spectator': Supreme Court forms committee to probe Pegasus

The Supreme Court on Wednesday appointed a panel of cyber experts to probe the alleged use of Pegasus spyware for surveillance of certain people saying every citizen needs protection against privacy violation and mere invocation of ldquonational security by Staterdquo doesnrsquot render the court a ldquomute spectatorrdquo Finding material that ldquoprima facie merits considerationrdquo the SC declined the Centrersquos plea to appoint a panel on its own saying such a course would violate settled judicial principle against biasA bench comprising Chief Justice of India N V Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli urged SCrsquos former judge Justice R V Raveendran to oversee the functioning of the threemember panel and sought a report expeditiously from the committeeN V Ramana chief justice of IndiaIt posted the batch of pleas in the matter including the ones filed by Editors Guild of India and veteran journalists N Ram and Shashi Kumar for hearing after eight weeksThe bench took note of the vehement submissions of the Centre on national security and rejected it saying ldquothis does not mean that the State gets a free pass every time the spectre of lsquonational securityrsquo is raisedrdquoAn international media consortium had reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were reportedly on the list of potential targets for surveillance using PegasusldquoIn this context this Court is called upon to examine an allegation of the use of such a technology its utility need and alleged abuse We make it clear that our effort is to uphold the constitutional aspirations and rule of law without allowing ourselves to be consumed in the political rhetoricldquoThis Court has always been conscious of not entering the political thicket However at the same time it has never cowered from protecting all from the abuses of fundamental rightsrdquo said the benchSC on freedom of pressThe SC also observed that freedom of press is an ldquoimportant pillarrdquo of democracy and that the courtrsquos task in the Pegasus matter assumes great significance with regard to the importance of protection of journalistic sources and the ldquopotential chilling effectrdquo that snooping techniques may have It said itrsquos undeniable that surveillance and the knowledge that one is under the threat of being spied on can affect the way an individual decides to exercise his or her rightsAn international media consortium had reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were on the list of potential targets for alleged surveillance using Israeli firm NSOrsquos spyware Pegasus03No of members in court cyber panel08Weeks after which SC will hear the pleasPanel members are cyber security digital forensics expertsThe three members of the panel roped in by the SC would comprise eminent experts mdash Naveen Kumar Chaudhary Prabaharan P and Ashwin Anil GumasteChaudhary is a Professor Cyber Security and Digital Forensics and Dean National Forensic Sciences University Gandhinagar Gujarat He has over two decades of experience as an academician cyber security enabler and expert and specialises in cyber security policy network vulnerability assessment and penetration testing the SC verdict saidPrabaharan is Professor School of Engineering Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham Amritapuri Kerala and has ldquotwo decades of experience in computer science and security areasrdquo ldquoHis areas of interest are malware detection critical infrastructural security complex binary analysis Artificial intelligence and machine learning He has many publications in reputed journalsrdquo the bench saidGumaste is Institute Chair Associate Professor Computer Science and Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Bombay Maharashtra ldquoHe has been granted 20 US patents and has published over 150 papers and authored 3 books in his field He has received several National awardsrdquo the SC saidWhat will the courtappointed panel do Probe what stepsactions the Centre took after reports were published in 2019 about hacking of WhatsApp accounts of Indian citizens using Pegasus Probe whether any Pegasus suite was acquired by the Centre or any state government or any central or state agency for use against the citizens of India Probe if any governmental agency has used the Pegasus spyware on the citizens of this country under what law rule guideline protocol or lawful procedure was such deployment made Take statements of any person for the enquiry and call for the records of any authority or individual Make recommendations regarding enactment or amendment to existing law and procedures surrounding surveillance and for securing improved right to privacy enhancing and improving the cyber security of the nation and its assetsMake recommendations to ensure prevention of invasion of citizensrsquo right to privacy regarding the establishment of a mechanism for citizens to raise grievances on suspicion of illegal surveillance of their devicesThis story has been 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