Pegasus: Stonewalling of scribe’s RTI queries by Centre not surprising; CIC sits on second appeal plea

An application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, seeking information from the Centre about the purchase of the Pegasus spyware from Israel-based NSO group, has been languishing as a second appeal at the Central Information Commission (CIC) for the past several months.

It was filed after the central public information officers (CPIOs) and the first appellate authorities (FAAs) of both the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the National Investigative Agency (NIA) failed to furnish any information in response to the RTI Application.

The applicant, Saurav Das is a journalist who is concerned about whether he also fell victim to tapping. “I have a genuine apprehension that being an investigative journalist and transparency activist, I’m also susceptible to such illegal snooping like many others. I am also susceptible to such gross human rights violation and breach of my fundamental right to privacy and thereby the right to life and liberty, guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Therefore, it becomes all the more important to establish transparency and seek the answers through RTIs from the competent authorities of MHA and NIA,” he says.

The reply he got in response to his RTI application in March 2021 from the CPIO of MHA was simply, “The undersigned CPIO has no information to furnish in the matter.”

The FAA concurred with the CPIO, stating that the reply was “appropriate and in order.”

Das argued that being only a deputy secretary in the MHA, the CPIO would not have access to such sensitive information. So, he had requested the CPIO to avail the assistance of other officers, including the Union Home Secretary under Section 5(4) and 5(5) of the RTI Act.

This request was, however, turned down by the CPIO, which Das says is in gross violation of several court judgments.

The RTI applications filed by Das had sought the following information from the MHA and NIA:

• Whether the Ministry of Home Affairs or any of its connected investigating/law enforcement agencies/departments have ever purchased or given a purchase order for PEGASUS spyware developed by Israeli Cyber arms firm NSO Group; if so, on which date; if not, whether there was any proposal for the same at any point of time;

• Whether the MHA or any of its connected investigating/law enforcement agencies/departments have ever used the services of NSO Group, Israel. If so, the details thereof and the expenditure towards it;

• Whether the MHA or any of its connected investigating/law enforcement agencies/departments have ever subscribed to any of NSO Group, Israel’s products, like the Pegasus or services. If so, the details thereof including at what cost;

• Furnish a copy of any search and enquiry conducted in pursuance to the Hon’ble Delhi High Court order.

In his second appeal to the CIC, Das says that he had asked for an “urgent appeal’’ for which he has quoted several Supreme Court judgments, including the one of Arnab Goswami V/s The State of Maharashtra & Ors. Criminal Appeal No. 742 of 2020.

In this case, the Supreme Court, in its judgement, had noted, “Human liberty is a precious constitutional value, which is undoubtedly subject to regulation by validly enacted legislation……. Liberty across human eras is as tenuous as tenuous can be. Liberty survives by the vigilance of her citizens, on the cacophony of the media and in the dusty corridors of courts alive to the rule of (and not by) law. Yet, much too often, liberty is a casualty when one of these components is found wanting.”

“Deprivation of liberty even for a single day is one day too many,” it had added.

He has requested in his second appeal to the CIC to recognise a senior-level officer and the Home Secretary as the deemed CPIOs and assign him/her the task to furnish this information within seven days, in a clear, detailed, point-wise manner as sought in his RTI application.

Das has also requested the CIC to direct the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the nodal agency for the RTI Act, to issue a relevant circular to grant a personal hearing at the stage of the first appeal in compliance with relevant orders of the Supreme Court and High Courts and admonish the FAA for disregarding the same.

He requested the CIC to hold an urgent hearing in this matter, “seeing the immense public interest and deprivation of liberty of several Indians.’’

However, Das rued, “The CIC is completely compromised as very evident by its actions. A body whose sole responsibility is to uphold public interest and order disclosure of the information is often hesitant to pass a significant disclosure order in a matter of public interest. This is because most of them are former bureaucrats, some of whom have worked under the present government, or are those who are close to the regime.”

He has also filed an RTI with the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MEITY) regarding a letter dated 31 Oct 2019 sent by it to Facebook-owned messaging platform WhatsApp to explain the breach of privacy and data of Indians through use of the Pegasus spyware. He has received no reply.

It may be recalled that Pegasus is a military grade spyware which is capable of reading text messages, tracking calls, collecting passwords, tracing the phone’s location, accessing the target devices, microphone(s) and video camera(s), and gathering information from apps.

As per media reports, 189 journalists, more than 600 politicians and government officials and more than 60 business executives have been targeted by clients of the NSO Group

(IPA Service)

Views are personal

Courtesy: The Leaflet