New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday criticized the government over the recent US court verdict on the Pegasus spyware, which revealed that 300 of the 1,400 targeted WhatsApp numbers belonged to Indians. Congress General Secretary Randeep Surjewala urged India’s Supreme Court to reopen the Pegasus case and conduct a fresh inquiry based on the US verdict.
A US court held Israel’s NSO Group responsible for violating state and federal hacking laws and WhatsApp’s terms of service. WhatsApp welcomed the decision, saying it sends a clear message about holding spyware companies accountable for illegal activities targeting journalists, activists and civil society.
In 2022, the Supreme Court of India constituted a technical panel to investigate allegations of spying using the Pegasus spyware. Pegasus was not found on the phones tested, while malware was found on five devices.
Surjewala demanded the government reveal the identities of the 300 Indians targeted, including two Union ministers, three opposition leaders and other prominent figures. He also raised the question of how the collected information was used or misused and whether a criminal case would be filed against the officials involved.
Also, he asked the Supreme Court to make the findings of the technical committee public and to provide the list of target Indian numbers to ensure justice. He also called on Facebook and WhatsApp to fulfill their duty of care by releasing the names of the targets.