Write to us if you suspect you are a Pegasus victim: Supreme Court’s Pegasus panel

People who suspect that their mobile phones were targeted using Pegasus and are willing to cooperate with the investigation can now approach a Supreme Court-appointed committee probing the controversial Israeli spyware.

The technical committee — a three-member panel supervised by former Supreme Court judge Justice RV Raveendran — appointed by the apex court in October last year has issued a public notice and set a deadline of January 7 for people to approach it with their submissions.

The Pegasus scandal had triggered a controversy last year and the Israeli spyware was believed to have been used to target Opposition politicians, journalists and Constitutional post-holders, among others. Among the suspected victims were Rahul Gandhi, Abhishek Banerjee, Ashok Lavasa, Anil Ambani and journalists, among others.

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The panel has asked citizens who have “reasonable cause to suspect” that his or her mobile has been compromised due to “specific usage” of the NSO Group Israel’s Pegasus software to contact them.

Those approaching the panel have been asked to provide “reasons as to why you believe your device may have been infected with Pegasus malware”. They should intimate whether they would be in a position to allow the technical committee to examine the device.

Such people who suspect her/his device is infected should send an email to the panel at [e-mail] before noon of January 7. “In case the committee feels your reasons for suspicion of the device being infected with the malware compel a further investigation, then the committee shall request you to allow examination of your device,” the committee said.

It also said the committee will give an acknowledgement for having received the device and also make and give the complainant a digital phone image. The collection point would be in New Delhi and the mobile phone would be delivered back on completion of the investigation.

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The Supreme Court had constituted the expert panel to investigate whether the Centre used the Pegasus spyware to snoop on citizens, saying that the government cannot always get a “free pass" by raising the spectre of “national security". The members of the panel were National Forensic Sciences University’s Dean Naveen Kumar Chaudhary, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham’s Professor Prabaharan P and IIT-Bombay Professor Ashwin Anil Gumaste.

The apex court order came after the Narendra Modi government ignored demands by the Opposition and activists for an investigation into the revelations based on a whistleblower providing data about possible spying of opposition leaders, constitutional authorities, businessmen, paramilitary officers, lawyers and activists, among others.

In November, it is learnt, the committee had requested the petitioners who approached the apex court on Pegasus issue to submit their targeted devices for technical examination.

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