The Delhi High Court on Friday agreed to hear a plea against the arrest of NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and human resources department head Amit Chakravarty in a case lodged under anti-terror law UAPA.
The matter was mentioned for urgent hearing by senior advocate Kapil Sibal before a bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma.
The senior lawyer submitted as he urged the bench to list the matter for hearing today itself, “This is the Newsclick matter. Arrest has been made illegally and in violation of the Supreme Court decisions.”
“Alright,” responded the bench, also comprising Justice Sanjeev Narula.
Purkayastha and Chakravarty were arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police on Tuesday where police sealed the NewsClick’s office in Delhi. The portal has been accused of receiving money to spread pro-China propaganda.
Their petitions before the high court have assailed their arrest, the subsequent 7-days police remand as well as Delhi Police FIR.
Previously on Thursday, a trial court here directed the city police to provide the duo with a copy of the FIR, citing a 2016 order of the Supreme Court and a 2010 order of the Delhi High Court.
The police stated, a raid was conducted on Tuesday at 88 locations in Delhi and 7 in other states on the suspects named in the FIR and surfaced in the analysis of data.
A total of 46 journalists and contributors to the NewsClick were questioned on Tuesday and their mobile phones and other electronic gadgets got seized.
Prominent journalists’ bodies, including the Indian Women’s Press Corps, PCI and Digipub News India Foundation, sought the intervention of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud in the matter.