Pegasus Probe: Who Is Retired Justice Raveendran Appointed by Supreme Court?

Retired Supreme Court Justice Raju Varadarajulu Raveendran has been appointed to oversee the probe into the Pegasus snooping allegations. He will be assisted by an Indian Police Service officer (IPS) and an official from the National Forensic University.

The three-member committee is tasked with investigating the usage of the Pegasus spyware and if th software was used on phones or other devices of Indian citizens to access stored data, eavesdrop on conversations and intercept the information. The committee has also been tasked with making recommendations on improving the cyber security of the nation.

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Justice Raveendran has had an interesting journey, including him failing his first-year law exam to then eventually being appointed as a judge in the Supreme Court.

Things to know about Justice Raveendran:

• Having enrolled as a lawyer in March 1968, he was appointed as a permanent judge of the Karnataka High Court in February 1993. He was then appointed as the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in July 2004.
• In September 2005, he was elevated to the Supreme Court and had a six-year-long tenure as an apex court judge before retiring in October 2011.
• Having been part of delivering some landmark judgements, including upholding the 27 per cent reservation for the Other Backward Class (OBC) in central educational institutions like IIT’s and IIM’s, while excluding the creamy layer from the benefit.
• During Justice Raveendran’s farewell in 2011, then Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia referred to him as a real hero.’ Justice Kapadia remarked, “Friends, if you want an Indian hero, a real hero, my vote is for Justice Raveendran. He is one of the greatest judges of this court.”
• Post-retirement, in January 2015, Justice Raveendran was appointed to be a part of the R M Lodha Committee to reform Indian cricket’s apex administration body, the BCCI.
• In June 2021, Justice Raveendran released a collection of essays titled – Anomalies in Law and Justice.
• Justice Raveendran has also served as Chairman of the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) from 2013 to 2019.

Justice Raveendran is perhaps best described in the words of former Chief Justice of India N V Ramana who said Justice Raveendran reminds him of Lord Denning’s words that the best judge is one who is one less known in the media.

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)