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Pegasus spyware targeted 100 WhatsApp users in India, second-highest globally

Pegasus spyware targeted 100 WhatsApp users in India, second-highest globally

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India Has Second Highest Number of WhatsApp Victims Targeted With Pegasus: US Court Documents

11/04/2025

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

The country with the most WhatsApp hacking victims is Mexico, which has 456 such people. India is second, with 100. In 2019, reports had said that WhatsApp had informed the Indian government that 121 Indian users were targeted by Pegasus.
Six years after WhatsApp told the Indian government that 121 Indian users were targeted by the Israeli spyware Pegasus, new documents exhibited in its lawsuit against malware makers NSO Group say that 100 Indians were impacted.
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Pegasus spyware targeted 100 WhatsApp users in India, second-highest globally

11/04/2025

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

WhatsApp users in 51 countries were targeted during a hacking campaign in 2019, a United States court document showed.
At least 100 of the 1,223 persons targeted using Israeli spyware Pegasus in a 2019 WhatsApp hacking campaign were located in India, Medianama reported on Thursday, citing a new legal filing in a United States court.
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Also read:
▪ US Court Finds NSO Liable For Hacking Of WhatsApp Using Pegasus Malware (Live Law / Dec 2024)
▪ India: Damning new forensic investigation reveals repeated use of Pegasus spyware to target high-profile journalists (Amnesty.org / Dec 2023)
▪ Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)
▪ Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire / July 2021)

Ambedkar said a Hindu Raj would be the biggest calamity to India: Anand Teltumbde

Ambedkar said a Hindu Raj would be the biggest calamity to India: Anand Teltumbde

Poster by #bakeryprasad

Frontline / by Amey Tirodkar

The leading scholar of the Dalit movement, explains how Hindutva parties use Babasaheb for political gains.
One of India’s leading public intellectuals and an authority on the Dalit movement, Anand Teltumbde, has been in the news across the country for his book on Ambedkar, Iconoclast: A Reflective Biography of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. The book offers a deep analysis of not just Ambedkar’s philosophy, but also the man he was— complex, visionary and tenacious. In this interview with Frontline, Teltumbde, brings to life Babasaheb, an icon who is now worryingly “worshipped” by several political parties and ordinary people. 
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Also read:
▪ NIA opposes Anand Teltumbde’s plea to travel abroad, cites risk of absconding (The Hindu / April 2025)
▪ Has India Ever Been a Democracy? (The Wire | Anand Teltumbde | March 2025)
▪ In Maharashtra, Fadnavis’s Foray to Capture Bhima-Koregaon (The Wire | Anand Teltumbde | Jan 2025)
▪ Bhima Koregaon Case: A glaring example of Hindutva lies (Siasat.com / Jun 2020)

▪ Iconoclast. A Reflective Biography of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar
by Anand Teltumbde


Publisher: ‎Penguin Viking
Language: ‎English
Hardcover: 700 pages
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Rationality seems upside down: ‘Intellectuals’ who endorse state violence!

Rationality seems upside down: ‘Intellectuals’ who endorse state violence!

South First / by N Venugopal

The rationality that the Telugu society cultivated 50 years ago—rejecting state oppression and embracing humanistic values—now seems to have been turned upside down.
When an ordinary citizen commits murder, it is a punishable offense. But if the government itself, through the home minister, announcing deadlines for killing people, is that not a crime? And when so-called intellectuals clap and cheer for these murders, is that not a crime too?
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Also read:
▪ Condemn the NIA’s raid in Andhra-Telangana to suppress democratic voices critical of war of corporate plunder ( Countercurrents / Oct 2023)
▪ AI Report: India’s exploitation of terrorism financing assessments to target the civil society (Amnesty.org / Sep 2023)
▪ The cost of protesting against mining in Gadchiroli (Scroll.in | by Nolina Minj | Sep 27, 2023)
▪ How Varavara Rao shaped Telangana’s sociopolitics: N Venugopal Rao interview (The Federal / Aug 2023)
▪ Statement against the drone bomb attacks in Chhattisgarh, India (India Matters / April 2023)

Sudhir Dhawale: “This is a bigger prison”

Sudhir Dhawale: “This is a bigger prison”

Credits: Shahid Tantray / The Caravan

The Caravan / by Shahid Tantray

A Bhima Koregaon political prisoner reflects on his release.
The author and activist Sudhir Dhawale was released on 24 January, after six years and seven months in jail. Dhawale, who founded the anti-caste group Republican Panthers Jatiantachi Chalwal and publishes the Marathi magazine Vidrohi, was one of the organisers of the Elgar Parishad, on 31 December 2017, a day before caste violence broke out on the two-hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon. …
Shahid Tantray, a multimedia reporter at The Caravan, spoke to Dhawale at his organisation’s Mumbai office.
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Also read:
▪ BK-16 Prison Diaries: Sudhir Dhawale’s poem, “Prisoners of Consciousness” (The Polis Project / March 2025)
▪ Sudhir Dhawale interview: ‘The law remains blind to injustice even with the blindfold gone’ (Scroll.in / Feb 2025)
▪ Interview | Sudhir Dhawale’s Work Will Go on (The Wire / Feb 2025)
▪ Sudhir Dhawale: ‘Never Imagined Meeting Hardened Criminals’ (Rediff.com / Jan 2025)
▪ Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawale released: Seven years of injustice by a state that punishes dissent [read order] (Sabrangindia / Jan 2025)
▪ Arun Ferreira: The government is muzzling people’s movement in the country (Midday / June 2018)

Bhima Koregaon and Dalits’ search for remedies rooted in dignity, not dominance

Bhima Koregaon and Dalits’ search for remedies rooted in dignity, not dominance

Frontline / by Tanvir Aeijaz

The book exposes the strategies of hate politics and violent populism and shows how democracy is being wrecked from within. 
Hannah Arendt’s canonical exhortation for the persecuted Jew that “…if one is attacked as a Jew, one must defend oneself as a Jew” finds resonance in the Dalit’s resistance against Brahminism and caste atrocities in India. Articulating the political contestation, imbued with the concept of social justice, Dalits look forward not to a continued endurance of historical, or even day-to-day, injustice but to pursue both normative and strategic vindication of their rights and dignity.
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Also read:
▪ Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste. Brahminism’s wrath against dreamers of equality

Author: Ajaz Ashraf  
Publisher: AuthorsUpFront
Publishing Date: June 2024
Pages: 496
Challenging Caste reads the violence at Bhima Koregaon as a clash between two worldviews – one striving to flatten the social hierarchy, the other justifying and perpetuating it. This book rips apart the Maoist conspiracy theory and the Urban Naxal narrative.
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▪ Process as Punishment – Recent books that bear witness to the BK-16’s incarceration (The Caravan / Jul 2024)
▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire │ by Ajaz Ashraf │ June 2024)

NIA had no role in denying Stan Swamy sipper: Former chief blames Uddhav govt

NIA had no role in denying Stan Swamy sipper: Former chief blames Uddhav govt

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Swamy, who was suffering from Parkinson’s disease, had filed bail pleas citing medical grounds which were rejected multiple times. While incarcerated, his health deteriorated and he died on July 5, 2021.
A day after TMC MP Saket Gokhale alleged that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) “denied even a straw” to Father Stan Swamy while he was in jail, former NIA Director General Y C Modi in a statement on Thursday dismissed the allegation and said that the central agency had no role in denying Stan Swamy a sipper.
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Also read:
▪ SC takes up the cause of disabled prisoners on the basis of a plea invoking Saibaba, Stan Swamy (The Hindu / March 2025)
▪ Some personal reflections on prison medical care (The Leaflet | Vernon Gonsalves | Apr 2024)
▪ Indian court again refuses to hear Stan Swamy case (UCA News / Sep 2024)
▪ Caged birds and prison songs: In chorus, Stan Swamy and the Bhima Koregaon accused kept hope alive (Scroll.in | by Vernon Gonsalves | Jul 2023)
▪ How the system broke Stan Swamy: A cell mate recalls the activist’s last days in prison (Scroll.in | by Arun Ferreira | Aug 2021)

The Erosion Of Judicial Independence / Eternal Adjournments Undermine Constitutional Values

The Erosion Of Judicial Independence / Eternal Adjournments Undermine Constitutional Values

Graphic: Jul 2021

The Erosion Of Judicial Independence: Is India’s Judiciary An Extension Of Hindutva?

11/03/2025

Eurasiareview / by Debashis Chakrabarti

Once the last bastion against executive overreach, India’s judiciary today stands accused of capitulating to the ideological project of Hindutva—an ethno-nationalist vision that seeks to establish India as a Hindu-first nation.
… While BJP-affiliated individuals find themselves exonerated, critics of the regime face relentless judicial harassment. Activists, journalists, and intellectuals have been imprisoned under draconian laws like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and sedition charges, with little to no judicial relief. The arrests of intellectuals like Anand Teltumbde, Sudha Bharadwaj, and Umar Khalid reflect how the judiciary has become a willing accomplice in the state’s crackdown on dissent.
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Eternal adjournments, impractical riders mar precious Constitutional values

10/03/2025

DT Next / by Justice K Chandru Retd

The case of Umar Khalid, a JNU student who was arrested in connection with the March 2020 Delhi riots, is more disconcerting. This month marks the fifth anniversary of the police filing a conspiracy case, but it is not even close to being tried.
… A classic example is the case of Bhima Koregaon (BK-16) – which became BK-15 after Fr Stan Swamy’s death. Though more than seven years have passed since the arrest of the accused, many are yet to get bail from the special court or the High Court.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Bail for Bhima Koregaon accused highlights extraordinary delay in trial (Scroll.in / Jan 2025)
▪ Year after being granted bail, Mahesh Raut remains in jail as stay extended (The Indian Express / Sep 2024)
▪ Why the SC Judgment Granting Bail to Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira Is So Significant (The Wire / Jul 2023)
▪ The terror of an anti-terror law in India: A short story of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (The Polis Project / Feb 2023)
▪ Inconsistencies in Bail Orders Mean Individual Liberty Is the Outcome of Judicial Lottery (The Wire / Oct 2022)

Supreme Court to examine lack of facilities in jails for disabled prisoners after PIL cites Saibaba, Stan Swamy

Supreme Court to examine lack of facilities in jails for disabled prisoners after PIL cites Saibaba, Stan Swamy

Govt gets SC notice on plea asking better facilities for disabled prisoners

11/03/2025

Business Standard / by pti

Citing instances of professor G N Saibaba and activist Stan Swamy to highlight the “severe neglect” of disabled prisoners, the plea said necessary provisions should be incorporated in Prisoners Act
The Supreme Court has sought a response from the Centre on a plea seeking adequate facilities for disabled prisoners in jails, and implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, in prisons across the country.
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Supreme Court to examine lack of facilities in jails for disabled prisoners after PIL cites Saibaba, Stan Swamy

08/03/2025

Bar & Bench / by Ummar Jamal

While Stan Swamy had passed away while lodged in jail as an undertrial prisoner, Saibaba had passed away last year a few months after he was acquitted and released from prison
The Supreme Court on Friday sought the response of the Central government to a Public Interest Litigation(PIL) seeking adequate facilities for disabled prisoners in jails and and full implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act of 2016 in prisons across the country [Sathyan Naravoor v. Union of India & Ors.]
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SC takes up the cause of disabled prisoners on the basis of a plea invoking Saibaba, Stan Swamy

07/03/2025

The Hindu / by Krishnadas Rajagopal

Petition raised a “serious” issue about the lack of disabled-friendly accommodation and facilities in prisons across the country
The Supreme Court on Friday (March 7, 2025) said a petition highlighting the trauma and inhumane conditions suffered by Professor G. Saibaba and the elderly Stan Swamy raised a “serious” issue about the lack of disabled-friendly accommodation and facilities in prisons across the country.
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Also read:
▪ G.N. Saibaba’s Lifelong Campaign Was Against the Violence of Silencing (The Wire | by Rona Wilson | Oct 2024)
▪ Stan Swamy parallel in former DU professor Gokarakonda Naga Saibaba’s death after 10-year jail (The Telegraph / Oct 2024)
▪ Some personal reflections on prison medical care (The Leaflet | Vernon Gonsalves | Apr 2024)

Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry gets another extension till 31 May

Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry gets another extension till 31 May

The Indian Express / by Chandan Shantaram Haygunde

It may be recalled that widespread violence took place in Koregaon Bhima area on January 1, 2018, during the 200th commemoration of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon
The Maharashtra government has granted yet another extension to the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry, which is probing into the causes of violence reported in Pune’s Koregaon Bhima area on January 1, 2018.
An order in this regard was passed by Chetan Nikam, deputy secretary, home department, on Monday. As per this order, the commission has been granted an extension till May 31, 2025.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Why caste Hindutva, not an Elgar conspiracy, is at the root of the Bhima Koregaon violence (The Polis Project / Feb 2025)
▪ Bhima Koregaon violence probe: Maharashtra govt grants inquiry panel 15th extension, till Nov 30 (The Indian Express / Aug 2024)
▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire / June 2024)
▪ Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)
▪ Bhima Koregaon Violence: Four Different Theories, but No Justice in Sight (The Wire / Jan 2022)
▪ THE BK-16 PRISON DIARIES SERIES (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)

India’s Forgotten Country: How State Power & Capitalism Fuel The Totalitarian Temptation

India’s Forgotten Country: How State Power & Capitalism Fuel The Totalitarian Temptation

Credits: Penguin

Article 14 / by Ashoka Mody

In this guest article, economist and writer ASHOKA MODY connects the dots from writer, activist and human rights lawyer Bela Bhatia’s account of her activism to state coercion, corporate interests and the erosion of Indian democracy.
… Bhatia had long campaigned for tribal rights and was frequently at the forefront of protests against police atrocities. By this time, she was likely already under surveillance through the Pegasus spyware—a glaring invasion of her privacy, as she later described to The Telegraph. 
However, September 2019 was an especially dangerous moment to challenge India’s law enforcement. Starting in January 2018, after a violent clash between Dalits and Hindutva supporters in Bhima Koregaon (a historic village near Pune), Indian authorities had arrested about a dozen activists under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967. 
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Also read:
▪ AI Report: India’s exploitation of terrorism financing assessments to target the civil society (Amnesty.org / Sep 2023)
▪ Statement against the drone bomb attacks in Chhattisgarh, India (India Matters / April 2023)
▪ Leaked Data Shows Surveillance Net in Elgar Parishad Case May Have Crossed a Line (The Wire / July 2021)
▪ They were Accused of plotting to overthrow the Modi government – The evidence was planted, a new report says (Washington Post / Feb 2021)