Continue the investigation: On the investigation of the Pegasus surveillance

It is difficult to disagree with the argument that there cannot be a parallel inquiry by any commission of inquiry into illegal allegations. Monitoring Using Pegasus Spyware after Supreme Court ordered an independent inquiry, It is, therefore, no surprise that the Supreme Court Banned the functioning of the commission set up by the Government of West Bengal and headed by a retired judge, Justice Madan B. Lokur. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had taken note of the surveillance allegations, possibly targeting individuals in West Bengal, and was on good legal ground when she took the first legal step towards finding out the truth. This was a move that was necessary due to the circumstances of the time, as the central government refused to acknowledge whether it possessed such spyware or whether countries identified as targets by an international media investigation were under any kind of surveillance. An international association of journalists reports that 300 out of 50,000 are likely to Indians were the target of Pegasus spyware, Subsequently, the government also refused to give any ground to the Supreme Court, and refused to answer the court’s questions with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Attempting to raise it in Parliament and sticking to its guns in court, the government essentially invited an order from the Court for an independent investigation. It is significant that a bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, NV Ramana, ruled that the quagmire of national security was not a sufficient reason for not conducting a credible investigation into the allegations.

A recent report suggesting that Pegasus was used to target jailed activist Rona Wilson’s mobile phone Underscores the urgent need to continue to investigate the illegal use of spyware in India. US forensic investigative firm Arsenal Consulting has said Mr Wilson’s phone was hacked 49 times and successfully infected until he was arrested for his alleged involvement in the Bhima Koregaon case in June 2018. Earlier, the firm had claimed that NetWire, a remote access Trojan, was used to place letters on Mr. Wilson’s computer. Similarly, advocate and co-accused Surendra Gadling was also targeted. These developments raise doubts about the genuineness of the evidence to prosecute him and others for a baseless Maoist conspiracy. There is no doubt that the investigation of the court order by experts under the supervision of a panel headed by retired Supreme Court judge, Justice RV Raveendran, should be taken to its logical conclusion and the nation should be told whether Pegasus, or Another spyware was used. To infect mobile phones and other devices of lawyers, activists and journalists. There is much to this judicially supervised investigation, and it behaves to extend its full cooperation to the government of the time and not to impede its independent functioning.