The three-member expert committee formed to investigate the use of the Pegasus spyware against journalists, activists, politicians and other Indian citizens has submitted its report to the Supreme Court, the Hindustan Times reported today. The submission was made nearly a week ago, according to the report. The contents of the report remain confidential, the HT report says. During the last hearing, in May 2022, Justice R.V. Raveendran, who oversees the technical committee, had asked for time until June 20th for submitting the final report of the committee which, the latest report notes, has now been come in after 'multiple delays'. In May, a three-judge bench comprising chief justice of India NV Ramana and justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli had asked for the matter to be listed next in late July: however, no date has been set for it yet. HT's report says that the matter could be listed before a bench comprising the aforementioned judges on August 12th. Why it matters? Last year, several petitions had been filed before the Supreme Court challenging the use of the Pegasus spyware and asking for a court monitored investigation, among other things, into its deployment. Pegasus, a product of Israel-based NSO group, is reportedly a highly sophisticated spyware that can remotely access the microphone, camera, SMSes, WhatsApp chats, etc., of a device. In July 2021 investigations carried out by a consortium of 17 news organisations worldwide revealed that 300 Indians have been listed as persons of interest for surveillance through the spyware,…
