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Amid the Pegasus controversy, 4 journalists and one Activist who are reported to be in the potential list of snoop targets have approached the Supreme Court seeking to declare installation and/or use of malware or spyware such as Pegasus as illegal, unconstitutional, and ultra vires of Part III of the Constitution.

It has been argued that the petitioners have strong reasons to believe that they have been subjected to deeply intrusive surveillance and hacking by the Government of India or some other third party.

Preferred by Journalists Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, SNM Abdi, Prem Shankar Jha, Rupesh Kumar Singh, and activist Ipsa Shatakshi and filed through Advocate on Record Prateek Chadha, the plea states that the Centre did not categorically state whether they had deployed the malware to carry out the activities of hacking and surveillance and have also failed to unequivocally deny the fact that they had purchased/obtained the Pegasus malware from NSO and/or the state of Israel.

The petitioners have averred that they perceive that their rights to privacy, access to information, and freedom as a journalist have been violated. 

“This breach of the Petitioner’s Fundamental Rights poses a grave threat to the freedom of speech and expression and also to the existence of a free press which is the cornerstone of our democracy. The persons that hacked the Petitioner’s device have obtained access not only to the most private and intimate details of his personal life but have also gained access to who his confidential sources have been and what information they have provided him. Consequently, the Petitioner apprehends some of these sources will suffer adverse consequences as a result of the breach of the Petitioner’s fundamental rights and that the existence of the Pegasus software will have a tremendous chilling effect on the right to free speech in India,” plea states.

It has also been averred that the petitioners apprehend that the Pegasus attack on him and other journalists in India would stop confidential informants and whistleblowers from coming forward and bringing to light wrongdoing at various levels of government and as such have a detrimental effect on transparency in governance all across India. 

The plea has also sought for issuance of directions to the Centre to produce and disclose to the Top Court and the petitioners all the material and documents with respect to all investigation, authorization, and/or order(s) pertaining to the use of Pegasus on the Petitioner and to take suitable steps to protect Indian citizens from the use of cyberweapons/malware such as Pegasus. 

Relief has also been sought to direct the Union to put in place a judicial oversight mechanism to deal with any complaints on illegal breaches of privacy and hacking and punish all government officials responsible for such breaches. 

It is pertinent to mention that this is the fourth plea that has been filed in relation to the Pegasus controversy. Prior to this Advocate ML Sharma,  CPI(M) Leader John Brittas and The Hindu’s N Ram had also moved the Supreme Court seeking a probe into the spying allegations. All the pleas are expected to be heard before a bench led by CJI NV Ramana on August 5, 2021. 

Case Title: Paranjoy Guha Thakurta v. Union of India