NewsClick founder, HR head move SC against arrest

Till late on Monday, however, the cause list of the Supreme Court for Tuesday did not reflect the case

New Delhi: NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and its human resources department head Amit Chakravarty on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking urgent hearing against the Delhi high court’s refusal to interfere with their arrest and police remand in a case lodged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

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A bench headed by chief justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud took note of the submissions of senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Purkayastha and Chakravarty, that the matter needed urgent hearing and asked him to write to the court’s registry for the same as per the standard operating procedure (SOP).

“…The journalists are in police custody. Here one of the accused is a 75-year-old man,” Sibal said.

The CJI assured Sibal that he will take a call on the urgent listing. Till late on Monday, however, the cause list of the Supreme Court for Tuesday did not reflect the case.

On October 13, the Delhi high court dismissed the plea against the arrest and police custody of Purkayastha and Chakravarty in the case registered under anti-terror law UAPA for allegedly receiving money to spread pro-China propaganda.

Both the accused were arrested by the Delhi Police Special Cell on October 3 after 400 police officials raided around 30 locations across Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Mumbai and Ghaziabad, questioning 46 people, including journalists, freelancers, writers and satirists, for eight hours.

In their first information report (FIR), the Delhi police have alleged that a sum of ₹75 crore to the website allegedly came from China to “disrupt the sovereignty of India” and cause disaffection against the country. The accused, the FIR said, conspired with a group — People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) — to sabotage the electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The FIR was registered on August 17, roughly two weeks after an investigation in the New York Times alleged that the portal was part of a global network that received money for pushing Chinese propaganda. Besides provisions of the anti-terror law, the two have also been booked under Indian Penal Code’s sections 153A (promoting enmity) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).

Both the accused are currently lodged at Tihar Jail after a Delhi court sent them to judicial custody till October 20.