India says law allows state to intercept data

Reddy didn’t answer a question on whether the federal government had used the services of NSO Group’s Pegasus software to snoop on calls and messages on WhatsApp Inc’s mobile platform. Indian news reports had earlier this month listed activists and human rights lawyers who had spoken out against government policies as among those whose phones were hacked. — AFP

India’s government said on Nov 19 it’s "empowered” to intercept, monitor and decrypt digital information in the public interest as long as its agencies follow the law.

Laws allowed federal and state governments to intercept "any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer resource”, G. Kishan Reddy, junior minister for India’s Ministry of Home Affairs told Parliament in a written reply when asked by an opposition lawmaker whether the government had snooped on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber, and Google calls and messages.