A Chennai-based advocate has issued a legal notice to The New York Times labelling its investigative piece which said India bought Pegasus spyware software from Israel as “mischievous” and “malicious” that brought a “bad reputation” to the country among other nations.
M Srinivasan, the advocate, sent the legal notice to the Editorial Board of The New York Times, asking the newspaper to tender an apology on the front page within a week of receipt of the notice or pay damages to the tune of Rs 100 crore.
The advocate said the investigative report published on January 28, 2022, under the caption "India has bought spyware tool Pegasus as part of $2 billion arms deal in 2017, as part of the larger arms deal with Israel” was not corroborative or authenticated by the Israel NSO Group.
“The investigative report is a mischievous and malicious one. Among the big democracies in the world, India's reputation was badly affected by this libel news article. You had insinuated that India's Pro-Israel vote in the United Nations was linked to the purchase of the software and this is totally wrong, and unsubstantiated allegations,” the notice read.
The lawyer said the NYT investigative team’s “speculation” that India voted in favour of Israel in exchange for alleged access to Pegasus software is mischievous and malicious and has brought “bad reputation to my country among the friendly nations in the world.”
Pointing to an interview by the Chief Executive Officer of NSO Group on January 29, in which he denied all allegations, Srinivasan said the article brings a bad reputation to India.
“Since India being a truly democratic nation, you should tender an apology in the front page of New York Times within a week, after receipt of this legal notice either through e-mail or courier, otherwise you have to face the legal consequences and damages to the tune of One Hundred Crore Indian Rupees,” the legal notice said.
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