Delhi court allows NewsClick founder, HR head to receive copy of police remand application

A Delhi Court on Wednesday allowed NewsClick founder and editor-in-chief, Prabir Purkayastha, and head of its human resource department, Amit Chakravarty, to receive a copy of the police remand application. Earlier in the day, the duo was sent to a 7-day police custody.

On Wednesday, Advocate Arshdeep Singh, representing NewsClick, had moved Delhi’s Patiala House Court seeking a copy of the Delhi Police FIR and the remand application. The court granted him the police remand copy, however, the matter for seeking FIR copy was shifted to Thursday as the Public Prosecutor was not present in court. A notice was moved to the Delhi Police over the plea by NewsClick.

Additional Sessions Judge Hardeep Kaur further allowed the accused to meet their counsel under Section 41D of the CrPC which states that any arrested person is entitled to meet an advocate of their choice during investigation.

Before granting permission, the judge asked if this was even allowed in cases filed under UAPA. Responding to this, Arshdeep said that there was no exception under UAPA for the section. “41D flows from article 22. No person who is arrested and in custody can be denied permission to seek help from a legal counsel,” said Singh.

Citing a recent Supreme Court judgment, which says that the grounds of arrest must be given in written format to the accused, Singh said that he will soon be moving the High Court to challenge the “illegal” arrests.

Purkayastha and Chakravarty were arrested by the Delhi Police Special Cell on Tuesday by invoking the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) following day-long searches at over 50 locations linked to the news portal, its employees and contributors.

After the searches, which were carried out across the National Capital Region and also in Mumbai, police said a total of 46 “suspects” had been questioned and their “digital devices” seized. Police also sealed the news portal’s office in Delhi.

According to people aware of the development, the police action was based on an FIR filed on August 17 based on the Enforcement Directorate’s inputs that NewsClick had allegedly received illegal funding from China, routed through the United States.

The ED had searched NewsClick’s premises in February 2021 as part of its probe into foreign remittances allegedly received since 2018.