New Delhi, Aug 25 : The Pegasus panel, in its report submitted in the Supreme Court, said the presence of controversial Israeli spyware Pegasus was not definitively established in 29 phones analyzed as well as the Central government was not involved in the investigation.The panel of the highest court-appointed judge said five of 29 phones may be affected with some kind of malware but that doesn’t necessarily mean it was Pegasus spyware.
The panel, led by former Supreme Court judge R.V.Raveendran, submitted its findings in the Apex Court last month.The panel found that the government did not cooperate when it was looking into the phone for malware.
A bench led by Chief Justice N.V.Ramana and comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli The bench said that the committee has stated is that the government has not cooperated.
The bench stated: “The same stand you took here, you also took there.” The Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre responded that he is unaware of the fact that.
The report was comprised of three sections: the report of the technical committee of the technical committee, digital pictures of phones that were examined for spyware-related infections as well as the report of the judge in charge of overseeing Justice Raveendran.The bench said it could publish the report of Justice Raveendran, but other sections of the report will not be released to the public.
The report recommended that the cyber security of a country should be strengthened while also protecting the privacy of the citizens, it is essential to make sure that there is no illegal surveillance is permitted.
It was noted that there are malwares that could be used in a way that is not intended, and they can cause security issues and also infringe on the privacy of citizens.The panel recommended that a system should be implemented in place to monitor the illegality of surveillance and private companies that are involved in surveillance should be prosecuted.
On the 27th of October in the year before, the highest court ruled that it was forced to investigate the matter to find out the truth by appointing an independent technical committee of experts headed by Justice Raveendran, to probe the Pegasus spying allegations.
The supreme court had authorized the technical committee develop their own procedures to implement and fulfill the requirements of reference.
The committee was able to conduct any investigation it felt appropriate and collect statements of anyone in relation with the inquiry.They could also request for the records of anyone who is an authority or person.
Justice Raveendran was to oversee the functioning of the technical committee and he was assisted by Alok Joshi, former IPS officer and Dr.Sundeep Oberoi, Chairman, Sub Committee in International Organisation of Standardisation/International Electro-Technical Commission/Joint Technical Committee.
The three co-chairs of the technical committee are Dr Naveen Kumar Chaudhary Professor (Cyber Security and Digital Forensics) and Dean, National Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar, Dr Prabaharan P.Professor (School of Engineering), Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham Amritapuri, Kerala; and Dr Ashwin Anil Gumaste Institute Chair Associate Professor (Computer Science and Engineering), Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
A number of petitions, including those from advocate M.L.Sharma, CPI-M MP John Brittas, journalist N.Ram, former IIM professor Jagdeep Chokkar, Narendra Mishra, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Rupesh Kumar Singh, S.N.M.Abdi as well as the Editors Guild of India were filed for an independent inquiry into the Pegasus snooping claims.
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