The Supreme Court on Tuesday, April 29, disfavoured the public release of the report of the court-appointed panel, which was formed to look into the Pegasus snooping allegations.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and NK Singh said the apex court will not allow the disclosure of the details touching security and sovereignty of the country, but the part of the report relating to individuals can be disclosed.
It said, “Any report which touches upon the security and sovereignty of the country will not be disclosed. But individuals who want to know whether they are included can be informed."
During the course of the hearing, the Justice Kant-led Bench remarked that there was “nothing wrong” with a country using spyware for its security purposes.
“What is wrong if the country is using spyware? Against whom it is used, it is the question. We cannot compromise and sacrifice the security of the nation. Private civil individuals, who have the right to privacy, will be obviously protected under the Constitution,” remarked the apex court.
It decided to defer hearing till July 30 after the petitioner's side sought time to bring on record a judgment of a court in the United States (US) in a case filed by WhatsApp against Pegasus.
Pegasus spyware was developed by Israeli cyber-intelligence firm NSO Group for eavesdropping on mobile phones and harvesting their data. The spyware has been highly controversial, used to track politicians, government leaders, human rights activists, dissidents, and journalists.
In October 2021, a bench headed by then Chief Justice of India (CJI) N.V. Ramana appointed an expert committee to inquire, investigate, and determine whether the Pegasus spyware was used on Indian citizens, including journalists, activists and politicians, to access stored data.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Union government, had refused to divulge details whether Pegasus was used or not, stating the information may affect the national security concerns of the country. However, the apex court said that its effort was to uphold the rule of law, without entering the "political thicket", and added the alleged use of Pegasus on the citizens of the country was of "grave concern".