New Delhi, April 29 (H.S.): The Supreme Court has stated that if a country uses spyware for national security, what is wrong with that? The question is against whom it is being used. The right to privacy of an ordinary citizen should be respected.

During the hearing on the demand to make the report related to the Pegasus investigation public, the Supreme Court said that the question of releasing the complete report does not arise. We cannot turn this report into a document for public discussion. We can consider the demands of the individuals affected by Pegasus. The next hearing in the case will be on July 30.

The Supreme Court had constituted a team of experts on this matter on October 27, 2021. This team was headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Ravindran. The committee had also submitted its report. The expert committee recommended that its report not be published. The committee was given 29 phones, five of which were suspected to have malware. However, it was not confirmed that it was Pegasus. The committee submitted its report in three parts. Two of these reports belong to the technical committee, while one report was by Justice Ravindran. The report contains some confidential matters and personal information as well. The Supreme Court had stated that the technical committee’s report would not be made public.

Justice Ravindran’s report recommended the creation of new laws against cyber attacks on ordinary citizens and illegal surveillance. The court had constituted a three-member technical committee to assist this investigative committee. The technical committee includes Prof. Naveen Kumar Chaudhary, Dean of the National Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar, Prof. Prabhakaran P from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri, Kerala, and Prof. Ashwin Anil Gumaste from IIT Bombay.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar