The Supreme Court on Tuesday posted for April 29 the hearing of
a batch of petitions challenging the alleged use of the Israeli software Pegasus by the NDA government to snoop on journalists and political leaders among others, which rights activists argued was an egregious violation of citizens’ fundamental right to privacy.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh assured senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for one of the PIL petitioners, that the report of a technical committee, which was submitted to the top court in a sealed cover, would be released.

Justice Surya Kant said the matter could not be taken up on Tuesday because of
paucity of time, but added that it would be examined on April 29.

No substantive hearing of the PILs had been held after August 25, 2022, when the matter came under scrutiny before the top court in the batch of PILs filed in 2021.

On May 10, 2023, then Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud had assured the petitioners an early date for examining the status update on the various recommendations made in 2022 by the Supreme Court appointed high-powered committee on the Pegasus spyware scandal which had complained that the NDA “government has not cooperated” with the investigations conducted by it.

It stated that five out of the 29 devices examined revealed the presence of “malware” embedded in them, although there were no indications of the Israeli spyware being used for snooping on citizens.

The committee had recommended the enactment of new laws and regulations to protect citizens from illegal surveillance and attacks.