NewsClick row: Delhi High Court dismisses news portal founder’s petition against arrest under UAPA

New Delhi, October 13

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The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed petitions filed by NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and the news portal’s human resources department head Amit Chakravarty challenging their arrest and subsequent police remand of in a case under stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) – an anti-terror law.

Holding that there was no “procedural infirmity” or violation of legal or constitutional provisions in relation to the arrest and the remand order was sustainable in law, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela rejected their petitions for being “devoid of any merit”.

Justice Gedela dismissed their contention that they ought to have been supplied with the grounds of arrest after being apprehended by police, saying the UAPA did not mandate furnishing the written grounds and only talked of the accused being “informed” about the reasons for arrest within 24 hours.

“After examining the entire issue in the right perspective, it appears as of now that the grounds of arrest were indeed conveyed to the petitioner, as soon as may be, after the arrest and as such, there does not appear to be any procedural infirmity or violation of the provisions of the Section 43B of the UAPA or the Article 22(1) of the Constitution of India and as such, the arrest are in accordance with law,” it noted.

However, in view of the recent Supreme Court verdict in Pankaj Bansal’s case, the High Court said it would be “advisable” that the police henceforth provide the grounds of arrest in writing to an accused after redacting “sensitive material”.

The court sought to emphasise that offences under the UAPA directly impacted the stability, integrity and sovereignty of the country and were of utmost importance since they affected national security.

A case was lodged by the Delhi Police against the duo under UAPA for allegedly receiving money to spread pro-China propaganda. According to the FIR, a large amount of funds to the news portal allegedly came from China to “disrupt the sovereignty of India” and cause disaffection against the country.

Purkayastha conspired with a group — People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) — to sabotage the electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, police alleged.

Purkayastha and Chakravarty were arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police on October 3. On October 10, the trial court sent them to judicial custody for ten days.

(With PTI inputs)