New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday extended the deadline for submitting the reports of technical and monitoring committees appointed by it to probe the alleged Pegasus spying case. The top court said that 29 “affected” mobile phones are being investigated in connection with Israeli spyware and the process should be completed within four weeks.
Chief Justice N. A bench headed by V. Raman said that the technical committee is examining the mobile phones affected by spyware and has also recorded statements of some people, including journalists. The bench said the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for ‘affected devices’ testing would also be finalized. The court said the technical committee’s inquiry may be completed by the end of May and then the supervisory judge will prepare a report for the consideration of the bench.
The members of the bench also include Justice Surya Kant and Justice Hima Kohli. Referring to the receipt of an interim report, the bench said that the technical committee, which has received 29 mobile phones to probe spyware, has developed its own software for the purpose (of investigation) and some government agencies and individuals including journalists Noticed have been issued. The court said, “It has been requested to give time to submit its report. Now, it is under process. We will give them time.”
“The process of the technical committee should be completed within four weeks and the supervisory judge should be informed. He will then submit his report. (Hearing) to be listed for a date in July. However, the bench did not pass any order relating to the request made by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for some of the petitioners. He has requested to make available the interim report to the parties.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said the report is interim and does not need to be made public at this point in time. The top court had in October 2021 ordered an inquiry into the alleged use of Israeli spyware. An international media conglomerate claimed that more than 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were included in possible targets for alleged spying through Pegasus spyware.
