‘Not wrong to use spyware for national security, track terrorists’: Supreme Court on Pegasus

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that it is “not wrong” to deploy spyware like Pegasus to track terrorists and protect India’s security. A two-judge bench was hearing petitions seeking an inquiry into the alleged use of Israeli spyware Pegasus by the government to snoop on officials, leaders and journalists.

“What’s wrong if the country uses the spyware, what’s wrong if it is used against terrorists? We can’t sacrifice national security," the SC said.

The bench, consisting of Justice Surya Kant and Justice N Kotiswar Singh, however, stressed that while using spyware is not wrong, the real question lies in who is targeted by it.

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“Any report which touches the security and sovereignty of the country will not be touched. But individuals who want to know whether they are included that can be informed. Yes, individual apprehension must be addressed, but it cannot be made a document for discussion on the streets," the bench noted. The court has posted a hearing on the matter for July 30.

Meanwhile, the petition argues that using military-grade spyware for targeted surveillance constitutes an unacceptable breach of the right to privacy, which the Supreme Court has recognised as a fundamental right under Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution.

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What is the Pegasus row?

In 2021, an investigation revealed that the Indian government used Pegasus spyware, developed by NSO Group, to target over 300 verified Indian phone numbers belonging to journalists, activists, opposition leaders, and sitting ministers.

The Supreme Court had established both a technical committee and an oversight panel to investigate allegations of Pegasus spyware being used to monitor the phones.

In its findings, the oversight committee reported that while Pegasus itself was not detected on any of the 29 phones examined, some form of malware was discovered on five of them.