The Supreme Court on October 27 passing an order to constitute an independent expert committee to look into allegations of “widespread and targeted” surveillance of politicians, journalists and activists among others using ‘Pegasus’, the Israeli spyware, has encapsuled a trinitarian essence that is the core of values of the Indian Constitution. In a watershed judgment by a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and including Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, the Apex Court directed that the committee “to determine the truth and get to the bottom of the (snooping) allegations”, using the ‘Pegasus’ software to infiltrate into mobile and digital devices, will be overseen by retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice R.V. Raveendran. The order said that the overseeing Judge will be assisted by Mr. Alok Joshi, former IPS Officer, (1976 batch), a former Joint Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) who has immense and diverse investigative experience and the technical knowledge, and Dr. Sandeep Oberoi, Chairman, ISO/IEC/JTC1 SC7 (International Organisation of Standardisation/ International Electro-Technical Commission/ Joint Technical Committee), a sub-committee which develops and facilitates standards within the field of software products and systems. A globally recognized syber security expert, Dr. Oberoi is also part of the Advisory Board of Cyber Security Education and Research Centre at… Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi. The three technical members of the committee include Dr. Naveen Kumar Chaudhary, Professor (Cyber Security and Digital Forensics) and Dean, National Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, Dr. P. Prabaharan, Professor, School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri, Kerala, and Dr. Ashwin Anil Gumaste, Institute Chair Associate Professor (Computer Science and Engineering), Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. He has been granted 20 US patents and a Bhatnagar Prize winner for Science and Technology (2018). “The Committee is requested to prepare the report after a thorough inquiry and place before this Court, expeditiously,” the Judges said, overruling the Union Government’s own offer of setting up...