Pegasus would not have happened if intelligence agencies were held accountable: Manish Tewari

‘The problem in India is that both the law enforcement and intelligence organisations do not have a sound legal basis,’ he says

The use of NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware against Opposition leaders, activists, judges and journalists would not have occurred if intelligence agencies were grounded in law and with provisions for holding them accountable, senior Congress leader Manish Tewari has said. In 2011, he moved a private member’s bill in the Lok Sabha- “The Intelligence Services (Powers and Regulation) Bill” that sought to bring “appropriate statutory basis” for intelligence agencies. The bill also dealt with the question of balancing the demands of security and privacy of individuals. Mr. Tewari listed an improved version of the bill in 2019 but since the beginning of the 17th Lok Sabha, the private members’ business has not been taken up. “The problem in India is that both the law enforcement and intelligence organisations do not have a sound legal basis,” he said. He pointed to a November 2013 the Guwahati High Court judgement, which called the CBI illegal. For the past eight years the CBI’s existence hung by the thread of a stay, since the Supreme Court had not so far adjudicated on the legality of the organisation that had the authority to deprive people of their life and liberty, he stated.