Pegasus: Illegal surveillance not possible in India, says IT minister in Parliament

Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday dismissed reports about the use of the Pegasus hacking software to spy on journalists, activists and Opposition leaders, saying that with checks and balances in place, illegal surveillance was not possible in India.

The clarification came after a leaked list, featuring more than 50,000 phone numbers “concentrated in countries known to engage in surveillance of their citizens”, was accessed by Paris-based media nonprofit Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International, which shared it with 17 news organisations as part of the Pegasus Project. The alleged hacking was done using Israeli firm NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.

According to the Wire, which focused on the Indian portion of the list, “the numbers of those in the database include over 40 journalists, three major opposition figures, one constitutional authority, two serving ministers in the Narendra Modi government, current and former heads and officials of security organisations and scores of businesspersons”.

As the revelations led to protests from the Opposition during the Monsoon Session of the Parliament, the IT minister said similar claims were made about the use of the Pegasus spyware through WhatsApp.

“A highly sensational story was published by a web portal last night,” Vaishnaw said during the Lok Sabha…

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