- Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
SENIOR Indian journalists N Ram and Shashi Kumar have moved the Supreme Court of India demanding an independent probe by its sitting or retired judge into the reports of alleged snooping by government agencies on a number of eminent citizens, politicians and journalists by using Israeli spyware Pegasus. Ram is the former editor of The Hindu while Kumar is the chairman of the Chennai-based Asian College of Journalism.
The petition, which is likely to come up for hearing within the next few days, sought the probe if the charges of hacking into mobile phones using the spyware represented an attempt by government agencies to curb free speech and expression of dissent.
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It also demanded a direction to the Narendra Modi government to disclose whether it or any of its agencies got a license for Pegasus spyware and used it – directly or indirectly – to conduct surveillance.
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According to the petitioners, the investigation involving several leading publications around the world has revealed that more than 140 Indians, including journalists, lawyers, government ministers, opposition politicians, constitutional functionaries and civil society activists have been found to be potential targets for the surveillance.
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The phone numbers of more than 40 Indian journalists appear on a leaked list of the potential targets and forensic tests have confirmed that some of them were successfully snooped upon by an unidentified agency using the spyware, The Wire said.
The leaked data includes numbers of journalists in media houses like the Hindustan Times, India Today, Network18, The Hindu and The Indian Express, it added.
“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 (equality before the law), 19 (freedom of speech and expression) and 21 (protection of life and personal liberty) by the Supreme Court,” the petition said.
It also said the targeted hacking of phones belonging to journalists, doctors, lawyers, civil society activists, government ministers and opposition politicians “seriously compromises” the effective exercise of the fundamental right to free speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.
It also added that the hack occasioned by the spyware constituted a criminal offence punishable under interalia Section 66 (computer-related offences), 66B (punishment for dishonestly receiving stolen computer resource or communication device), 66E (punishment for violation of privacy) and 66F (punishment for cyberterrorism) of the IT Act.
