NEW DELHI: Courts must take cognisance of the latest analysis by an external forensics firm that the phone of activist Rona Wilson, arrested in the Elgar Parishad case, was “infiltrated” with Pegasus before his arrest, two senior activists-cum-advocates said.
According to the report by a global publication, two backups of an iPhone of Wilson had digital traces showing infection by Pegasus.
“For the first time, the totally illegal practices of investigation agencies to dump incriminating material on a computer has been exposed. After this case, courts will probably be more attentive to dumping of material on private persons,” senior advocate Colin Gonsalves said.
He added that the court, in light of the new revelations, will now “become more conscious of what investigating agencies are up to.”
He termed the alleged act of police as “pure criminality” and called for the investigating agency to be prosecuted for “creating false evidence in a case which carries a death sentence.”
Senior advocate Rebecca John termed the developments “extremely worrying”.
She said courts should take cognizance of the new revelations “because one cannot be dependent on states because people’s liberty is at stake.”
She said if it’s true that “Pegasus and its ilk is being used to fabricate evidence and put on people’s equipment, the court must order an inquiry. This is very serious…far more serious than even snooping if it’s true.”
The credibility of the constitutional process is at stake, she said.
NIA says arrest not illegal
An NIA official said that the material on the basis of which Wilson was arrested is “based on prosecutable evidence”.
On the new forensic findings, the official said that Indian courts only rely on findings of labs that are recognised by government.
Wilson had claimed that the malware was planted on his laptop through an email on June 13, 2016.