In a significant development, the Supreme Court has agreed to list the petitions filed by NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and the news website’s human resources head, Amit Chakraborty, challenging their police remand in a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Purkayastha and Chakraborty have contested the Delhi High Court’s order, which upheld the trial court’s decision to remand them to police custody. They have since been remanded to judicial custody.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud announced that the Court would review the case and list the matter, following Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal’s mention of it today.
Sibal emphasized Prabir Purkayastha’s age, stating, “He is a 70-plus man in custody.”
Last week, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela of the Delhi High Court dismissed the petitions filed by Purkayastha and Chakraborty, rejecting their argument regarding the non-furnishing of grounds of arrest.
The petitioners contended that their arrest and remand were unlawful since they were not provided with the grounds of arrest, citing a recent Supreme Court judgment in the Pankaj Bansal v. Union of India & Ors (M3M case). However, Justice Gedela determined that the Supreme Court’s recent judgment was not directly applicable to arrests made under the UAPA.
The arrests of Purkayastha and Chakraborty followed a series of raids conducted after allegations were made in a New York Times article that NewsClick was involved in promoting Chinese propaganda.
Their arrest took place on October 3 after several hours of questioning, and they were remanded to seven days of police custody on October 4.
According to the FIR, the accused were involved in the illegal receipt of significant foreign funds, intending to disrupt the sovereignty, unity, and security of India.
The FIR stated that secret information suggested that substantial foreign funds were illegally channeled into India by both Indian and foreign entities. Over five years, these funds, amounting to crores of rupees, were received by Newsclick through illicit means.
The funds were allegedly funneled by Neville Roy Singham, who was purportedly an active member of the Communist Party of China’s propaganda department, using a complex network of entities.
NewsClick has denied the allegations made against them.
