Pegasus: Gagandeep Kang & Woman Who Accused CJI Gogoi Of Harassment On List

Indian women on Pegasus: The mobile numbers of a woman who accused former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi of sexual harassment in 2019 and top virologist Gagandeep Kang have figured in the explosive leak of a Pegasus spyware watchlist targeting persons across the globe, reports said Monday.

Consolidated as the Pegasus Project, the collaborative worldwide investigation by several media organisations claims to have exposed the use of NSO Israeli spyware Pegasus by "authoritarian governments" to allegedly snoop on prominent journalists, activists, lawyers, politicians and other persons of interest.

As names are revealed daily in the ongoing project, the names of Gagandeep Kang - a voice of authority during the COVID-19 pandemic in India - and journalists Rohini Singh, Vijaita Singh, Ritika Chopra and Swati Chaturvedi, among several others have surfaced as alleged potential spy targets.

Reports on Monday suggested the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's top political opposition Rahul Gandhi, as well as noted political strategist Prashant Kishor, were selected as alleged targets too. Forensic analysis will further show whether devices of those on the Pegasus list were successfully hacked or not.

Indian Women On Pegasus List: Bombshell Revelations Of Alleged Surveillance

Joanna Slater, who reported on the India leak for The Washington Post, elaborated on Twitter: "More than 1,000 numbers in India were on the list for possible targeting. The partners in the project verified more than 300 of the numbers and performed forensic analysis on 22 smartphones in all."

Also represented: *11* numbers connected to the woman who accused the chief justice of India’s Supreme Court of sexual harassment. Numbers for her, her husband and two family members are on the list. 8/

— Joanna Slater (@jslaternyc) July 19, 2021

The Wire, which is part of the global network of media houses leading coverage on the Pegasus Project, reports the woman staffer who accused Gogoi of sexual harassment was allegedly marked as a potential "snoop" candidate the same week her allegations surfaced. Reportedly, eleven numbers associated with her - three her own - were included on the Pegasus watchlist.

The woman, a former junior court assistant at the Supreme Court, had said in her affidavit to top judges in April 2019 of Gogoi, then the sitting CJI: "He hugged me around the waist, and touched me all over my body with his arms and by pressing his body against mine, and did not let go." Gogoi had refuted the allegations and a month later, was cleared by an internal investigation committee. Follow updates here.

Since NSO notably claims to only sell its spyware to "vetted governments," revelations in the Pegasus Project have raised concerns of central surveillance allegedly employed in a bid to suppress dissent and opposition. India features on the leak list alongside countries like Mexico, Rwanda, Kazakhstan and Morocco.

The leak report, led by Amnesty's Citizen Lab and non-profit Forbidden Stories, has been dismissed by NSO in a statement as "full of wrong assumptions and uncorroborated theories."

Indian IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, said in Parliament on Monday as the Monsoon Session began, that the Pegasus reports were an "attempt to malign Indian democracy and its well-established institutions." Vaishnaw's name was revealed as an alleged target on the Pegasus spy list only hours later.

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