The Supreme Court on Wednesday appointed a three-member technical committee to investigate the allegations that the Pegasus software was u...
The Supreme Court on Wednesday appointed a three-member technical committee to investigate the allegations that the Pegasus software was used for spying on Indian citizens, including journalists and political leaders, Live Law reported.
The committee comprises professors of cybersecurity and computers science Naveen Kumar Chaudhary, Prabaharan P and Anil Gumaste, Chief Justice NV Ramana said in the order.
Former Supreme Court judge RV Raveendran will oversee the functioning of the committee along with former Research and Analysis Wing chief Alok Joshi and cybersecurity expert Sundeep Oberoi.
The court asked the committee to investigate the allegations “expeditiously” and listed the matter for next hearing after eight weeks.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Ramana said that restriction on privacy can only be imposed in matters of national security.
“It is undeniable that under surveillance it affects the right and freedom of people and how it is exercised,” he said. “It also about freedom of press and the important role played by them, such technology may have chilling effect on right to press.”
The surveillance allegations pertain to a leaked list of more than 50,000 phone numbers, that was accessed by Paris-based media nonprofit Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International. As part of the Pegasus Project, the organisations had shared the list with 17 news outlets across the world.
According to the Wire, which focused on...