The Supreme Court heard the petitions of NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and HR head Amit Chakraborty challenging their arrests by the Delhi Police in a UAPA case.
The Supreme Court has today ordered for a post-Diwali vacation hearing on the pleas of Purkayastha and Chakraborty. A bench comprising Justice BR Gavai and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra told senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who was appearing for both the accused, about the pleas to be considered post-Diwali vacation.
The Counsel for NewsClick( Advocate Kapil Sibal) said that a recent judgement of the Apex court states that grounds of arrest have to be immediately shared with the accused but in this case, nothing was shared.
He said there is an application for medical bail also pending before the court
Delhi Police had arrested Purkayastha and Chakraborty on October 3 following a series of raids on the team behind NewsClick as well as its contributors, including independent journalists, following the allegations that they received money for promoting Chinese propaganda. After the raids, police sealed the NewsClick’s Delhi office.
The accused were remanded to police custody for seven days on the night of October 3, after they were produced at the judge’s residence.
A total 46 people were interrogated in connection with the charges. Police took away their digital devices, including laptops and mobile phones, along with certain documents, for examination.
Those questioned included senior journalists Urmilesh, Aunindyo Chakravarty, Abhisar Sharma and Paranjoy Guha Thakurta; historian Sohail Hashmi; satirist Sanjay Rajoura and D Raghunandan of the Centre for Technology and Development. They were interrogated for over six hours and allowed to go later.
NewsClick had come under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of the Delhi Police after a report published in the New York Times accused it of receiving money from US millionaire Neville Roy Singham for promoting pro-China propaganda in India.