New Delhi, Jan 30 (LAB): A fresh plea has been filed in the Supreme Court of India by a Delhi based lawyer, seeking that the court should take cognizance of a New York Times report on the purchase of Israeli spyware Pegasus, and order a probe into the 2017 defense deal with Israel.
A petition has been filed by Advocate ML Sharma in the Supreme court over the Pegasus issue and demanded that an FIR be registered against the concerned officer or authority for the transaction and an investigation should be initiated.
The application cited that on January 29, 2022, a New York Times report published a detailed report
declaring that in July 2017 Modi government purchased Pegasus from an Israeli firm as follows,
“ The Indian government bought Israeli spyware Pegasus as part of a larger arms deal in 2017, according to an investigative report by the New York Times.
The report, published on Friday in NYT, revealed that in 2017, India and Israel agreed to a $2 billion sale of a “package” of weapons and intelligence gear. It further stated that Pegasus and a missile system were the “centerpieces” of this deal.
In April 2017, it was reported that India had
inked a $2 billion deal with Israel Aerospace Industries for the supply of air defense missiles to the Indian Army.
The NYT report reveals how Israel reaped diplomatic gains around the world from NSO’s Pegasus spyware a tool America itself purchased but is now trying to ban.”
The petitioner alleged that the government of India has blocked the said news of the New York Times however he is having a copy of the YouTube reporting upon the said report. It is pertinent to say Indian newspapers have also published the report on the same topic.
That petitioner alleged that said deal was not placed in the house for approval and a breach of trust was committed for personal political interest by the prime minister and BJP party and for embezzling of public money.
ML Sharma said that the deal is liable to be canceled
and the money should be recovered as the constitution does not allow deals without a nod of the parliament.
That petitioner has also filed an application to issue a letter of rogatory to the Israeli Court for securing necessary evidence secured by the
government during its raid upon the NSO office and other places. Which is still pending
The petitioner asked the court to issue a suitable direction to register a criminal case and to investigate the Pegasus purchase and misutilization of public funds in the interest of justice and issue necessary direction to register F.I.R for the investigation to recover public money paid for the deal &
prosecute concerned persons in accordance with law.
The NYT, in a report titled ‘The Battle for the World’s Most Powerful Cyberweapon’, said the Israeli firm NSO Group had for nearly a decade been “selling its surveillance software on a subscription basis to law-enforcement and intelligence agencies around the world, promising that it could do what no one else — not a private company, not even a state intelligence service — could do: consistently and reliably crack the encrypted communications of any iPhone or Android smartphone.”
The writ petition (PIL) has been filed under Art. 32 & Art 21 read with Articles 266(3), 267(2), and 283(2) of the constitution of India coupled with Sections 65, 66, and 72 of The Information Technology Act, 2000 read with Section 3 of the Official Secret Act invoking his fundamental right to protect the fundamental
right of the citizen of India challenging snooping of the citizen of India via Pegasus software by the respondents for their vested political interest. The petitioner has sought further direction for investigation through Special Investigating Team (S.I.T), for action and prosecution u/s 65,66 and 72 of The Information Technology Act, 2000 read with Section 3 of the Official Secret Act,1923 and 408 / 409/ 120-b of the Indian Penal code (IPC). The case is likely to come up before the court on Monday. /LAB/SNG/