Will SC conduct further inquiry, asks Surjewala after Pegasus spyware case verdict in US

New Delhi: With a United State court holding Israel's NSO Group liable for 'Pegasus', senior Congress leader Randeep Surjewala on Sunday asked whether the Supreme Court will now conduct an inquiry following reaffirmation that around 300 Indians were targeted using the spyware.

CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas said the government has so far not claimed that it purchased Pegasus and the Supreme Court-appointed committee even complained about lack of cooperation from the Centre. "It is time for us also to look at the serious invasion into our privacy," he said.

The comments came as on Friday, a US district court held NSO Group liable for targeting the devices of 1,400 WhatsApp users. The order comes in a petition filed by Meta-owned WhatsApp seeking damages from NSO group, which used a bug in the messaging service to intrude into the devices.

"The Pegasus Spyware case verdict proves how 300 WhatsApp numbers of Indians were targeted in the illegal spyware racket,” Randeep Surjewala posted on 'X' saying it is time the Modi government answers several questions.

“Who are the 300 names targeted? Who are the two Union Ministers? Who are the three Opposition leaders? Who is the Constitutional Authority? Who are the journalists? Who are the business persons? What information was retrieved by the BJP government and agencies? How was it used - misused and to what consequence?” he said.

The Modi government was in the eye of the storm following revelations that devices of several journalists, activists and Opposition politicians were compromised. While NSO Group said it sold its software only to governments, the Modi government had denied using it.

Surjwala asked whether appropriate criminal cases would be lodged against political executive/officers in the government and whether the Supreme Court would take note of the developments in the US and publicise the report of its Committee of Technical Experts on Pegasus Spyware submitted in 2021-22.

“Will the Supreme Court now conduct further inquiry in view of the judgement affirming targeting of 1,400 WhatsApp numbers, including 300 from India?” he said.

“Will the Supreme Court now ask Meta to submit to itself the 300 names to meet the ends of justice in the case? Shouldn’t Facebook (now Meta) now have responsibility to release the names of 300 Indians targeted by Pegasus, considering WhatsApp and Facebook have the biggest subscriber base in India and they have ‘duty of care & disclosure’ to its clients in India?" he added.