Rajya Sabha member John Brittas has filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a court-monitored probe into reports of alleged snooping of activists, politicians, journalists and constitutional functionaries using Israeli spyware Pegasus.
The parliamentarian said the recent Pegasus snooping allegations as reported by a website on 19 July are causing huge apprehensions and great agony for the citizens of India as such snooping violate citizen’s freedom of speech under Article-19 (1) (a) as well as his/her personal liberty under Article-21.
Only a proper court monitored investigation can alleviate these apprehensions and agonies. Already cases against unauthorized interceptions by NSO are pending before the courts in US. As per Annexure: P/2 there is an indictment against NSO for unauthorized surveillance/ interception, the plea added
Brittas asked the court whether the statement meant if the surveillance was authorised by the government. If so, the MP asked, were the procedures under the Indian Telegraph Act, Information Technology (Amendment) Act, Section 92 of Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Telegraph Rules for “lawful interception” followed by the government.
The petitioner further said that Snooping, phone tapping, wiretapping, line bugging etc. are the monitoring of the phone or the internet based conversations by a third party, often by covert acts and the same is a critical invasion into an individual’s privacy.
This is in clear derogation of Article-21 of the Indian Constitution unambiguously stating that no person shall be deprived of his life for personal liberty except according to the procedure established by law, it added
The plea further said that If the Pegasus Spyware was used in an unauthorized manner that is in violation of fundamental rights under Articles 19(1)(a) and 21 and also as a slap on the face of the right to privacy upheld by this Court in Puttaswamy case.
There is also violation of the provisions of IT Act & Indian Telegraph Act for which strict penal action needs to be done after an immediate, independent and transparent investigation, the plea added.
The aspect of interception in the phones of former Election Commission member, if true, shows that fundamentals of democracy and free and fair elections are also shaken, plea said
The petitioner further stated that The allegation that the phone numbers of many opposition members are also intercepted shows that a chilling effect upon the dissents against the Government is made through the Panopticon of Pegasus Spyware and this weakens democracy. Opposition is an inevitable part of democracy.
The top CBI officials are also said to be not free from the surveillance of Pegasus Spyware shows either that the Government has no trust upon its own investigating officers or that some external agencies are accessing the highly confidential data of topmost investigating agency, the plea said
The petitioner alleged that the allegation about the interception of phones of activists and give a strong message that the Government is giving least regard for fundamental rights under Art. 19(1)(a) and Art. 21 of the Constitution.