Editors Guild urges SC-appointed committee to take cognisance of NYT report on Pegasus

After the New York Times reported on the Indian government buying the Pegasus spyware as part of a larger arms deal in 2017, the Editors Guild of India urged a Supreme Court-appointed committee to take cognisance of the report's claims.

The committee, headed by retired Justice RV Raveendran, was formed in October to investigate the use of the spyware, developed by Israel's NSO Group, against Indian citizens. In a statement released on Sunday, the guild said it had written to Justice Raveendran in this regard.

"The claims in the NYT are in stark contrast to the stance of the Government of India, which has been and continues to be vague and non committal in its response to these extremely serious allegations that whether they purchased the spyware, and more disturbingly, if it was used against Indian citizens, including journalists and civil society members," the statement said.

The guild also asked the committee to seek responses on NYT's claims from the government, the CAG, and secretaries of "all the possible ministries that may have been involved with claimed purchase of the spyware".

NYT's investigative report, published on January 28, 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 supply of air defence missiles to the Indian army.

After the report was published, union minister General VK Singh called the paper "supari media".

Last year, an international consortium of media organisations had reported on how the Pegasus spyware had been used to potentially target journalists, activists and politicians in India. However, in August, following widespread outrage, in response to questions raised in the Rajya Sabha, the government had said that the “ministry of defence has not had any transaction" with the Israel-based NSO Group.