A Supreme Court meeting chaired by India's Chief Justice NV Ramana is expected to hear on August 5 a petition filed by high-level journalists N. Ram and Sashi Kumar for an independent investigation led by a former or current judge of the tribunal on the mass surveillance of 142 potential "targets", including journalists, lawyers, ministers, opposition politicians, constitutional authorities and civil society activists, using Pegasus spyware of the Israeli army.
The Supreme Court will also hear separate claims filed by Rajya Sabha member John Brittas and Supreme Court attorney ML Sharma on the same subject, further lawsuits have been filed including one by the Editors' Association of India calling for an independent investigation into the Pegasus allegations and one by five editors.
Mr Ram and Mr Kumar, in their petition, stated that mass surveillance using military-grade spyware deprives certain basic rights and appears to represent an attempt to infiltrate, attack and destabilize independent institutions that serve as key pillars of our democratic establishment.
They have asked the government for full disclosure on whether the government allows tracking, in what appears to be an attempt to silence free speech and temper dissent. The government, according to the petition, has yet to give a clear answer as to whether the illegal hacking was done with their blessing.
Journalists argue that espionage has seriously violated the right to freedom of expression and privacy. It has no legal basis. In fact, the statutory surveillance regime under Section 5(2) of the Telegraph Act appears to have been completely broken and civilians have been targeted.