BREAKING | #PegasusProject The telephone numbers of more than 60 women – homemakers, lawyers and school teachers, journalists, scientists, civil servants and even friends of politicians – figure in the leaked database of probable surveillance.

thewire.in/women/pegasus-…
Minal Gadling, the 48-year-old homemaker’s immediate concern was the extent to which her privacy could have been compromised.

“My phone is an integral part of me. I carry it everywhere, even to my bedroom,” she said. | @sukanyashantha

thewire.in/women/pegasus-…
@sukanyashantha Her husband, Surendra Gadling, was arrested in June 2018 and later arraigned in the ongoing Bhima Koregaon case.

The leaked database indicated that Gadling’s associate lawyer, Nihalsing Rathod, was marked as a probable target in early 2018.

thewire.in/women/pegasus-…
@sukanyashantha He had gotten married only a few months before that.

His wife, Shalini, said that even before she got acquainted with her partner’s work, she was dragged into this “madness”.

thewire.in/women/pegasus-…
@sukanyashantha Tribal rights activist Soni Sori, also on the list of potential victims, had said more than her own life, she fears for the many victims and families of those killed extra-judicially or sexually violated by security forces in the Bastar region.

thewire.in/women/pegasus-…
@sukanyashantha “In a conflict zone, where everyone is looked at with suspicion, such surveillance can have a deadly impact. My work involves meeting a lot of victims on the ground; some even end up living with me for months."

thewire.in/women/pegasus-…
@sukanyashantha "I can’t even imagine what such surveillance could do to victims of sexual assault,” Sori said.

Most women interviewed on the list felt that the manner in which Pegasus was potentially used against them breached their personal space in unacceptable ways.
thewire.in/women/pegasus-…
@sukanyashantha Of them, at least one was a minor when her number was selected for surveillance.

“This is actually a bodily violation,” Vrinda Bhandari, a Delhi-based lawyer (whose number is not on the list) told The Wire.

thewire.in/women/pegasus-…
@sukanyashantha “From dating apps to a monthly period tracker to online banking, everything has slowly made way into our phones. Now imagine if all of this is accessible to the attacker,” Mishi Choudhary. technology lawyer, observed.
thewire.in/women/pegasus-…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with The Wire

The Wire Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @thewire_in

26 Jul
BREAKING | The phone number of the current chief of Bihar cricket, Rakesh Tiwary, considered close to those at the helm of cricket administration in India, has been identified in the leaked database analysed by the #PegasusProject, The Wire can confirm.

thewire.in/sport/pegasus-…
Two phone numbers used by Tiwary were selected as possible candidates for surveillance in 2018 by an unknown client of the NSO Group, as per the leaked records, about a year before he became president of the Bihar Cricket Association.

thewire.in/sport/pegasus-…
Tiwary’s rise in Indian cricket has been rapid, but at the time he was selected as a person of interest by an Indian agency that also uses Pegasus spyware, he was relatively unknown.

thewire.in/sport/pegasus-…
Read 4 tweets
26 Jul
BREAKING | #PegasusProject Rajeshwar Singh, a senior ED officer who led several high-profile investigations was selected as a probable target for surveillance.

Also listed was V.K. Jain, a former IAS officer who worked for Delhi CM @ArvindKejriwal.

thewire.in/government/ed-…
@ArvindKejriwal Singh, a provincial police service officer (PPS) from Uttar Pradesh, has been with the ED since 2009, during which time he had served on the investigation of several sensitive cases such as the 2G spectrum scam and the Aircel-Maxis matter.

thewire.in/government/ed-…
@ArvindKejriwal A second number was listed around 2018, when two numbers registered to his wife are added, as are the numbers of his two sisters, one of whom, Abha Singh, is an IAS officer-turned-lawyer based in Mumbai.

thewire.in/government/ed-…
Read 14 tweets
26 Jul
BREAKING | #PegasusProject

Two serving colonels who challenged official policy, a retired intelligence officer who took RAW to court, and two serving BSF officers figure in the Pegasus Project database as persons of interest for an unidentified agency.

thewire.in/government/ind…
Barely a month after K.K. Sharma, then head of the BSF, attended an RSS-affiliate’s event, his telephone numbers were added to the list.

It is not clear what the purpose of any potential surveillance might have been.

thewire.in/government/ind…
If the Indian agency in question was interested in studying the extent to which Sharma actually sympathised with the RSS, whatever it learned about his leanings clearly did not disqualify him from a key post-retirement assignment.

thewire.in/government/ind…
Read 16 tweets
24 Jul
LIVE | "We need India to understand that we know India is perpetrating terrorism against Pakistan in Pakistan and it is unacceptable," says Moeed Yusuf in conversation with Karan Thapar.

Watch the interview here:
LIVE | Moeed Yusuf, Pakistan's National Security Advisor, says reports of his meeting with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval are untrue.

Watch the interview here:
LIVE | "I would protect who made contact with Pakistan from the Indian side as that would reveal who really calls the shots in India and that's for Delhi to decide," says Moeed Yusuf to Karan Thapar.

Watch the interview here:
Read 7 tweets
23 Jul
BREAKING | #PegasusProject

More than 25 people from the Kashmir Valley were selected as potential targets of intrusive surveillance.

Forensic analysis revealed signs of Pegasus targeting in separatist leader Bilal Lone's phone data.

thewire.in/rights/kashmir…
Others on the leaked database include at least two members of People’s Democratic party (PDP) chief and former chief minister of J&K Mehbooba Mufti’s family.

thewire.in/rights/kashmir…
Their selection as potential targets of surveillance happened when Mufti was still CM and in a coalition with the BJP.

In fact, Mufti’s family members were chosen for potential surveillance just months before the government collapsed.

thewire.in/rights/kashmir…
Read 11 tweets
22 Jul
BREAKING | #PegausProject

Hours after PM Modi acted to oust Alok Verma from his post as head of the CBI at midnight on October 23, 2018, three telephone numbers registered in his name were added to a list of possible targets for surveillance.

thewire.in/government/peg…
Until his peremptory termination despite having three months of his tenure to go, Verma had enjoyed the authority to order the surveillance of suspects – under norms prescribed by law.

thewire.in/government/peg…
Along with Verma, the personal telephone numbers of his wife, daughter and son-in-law would eventually get placed on the list too, making it a total of 8 numbers from this one family. | @svaradarajan and @AjoyAshirwad report.

thewire.in/government/peg…
Read 11 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(