Delhi HC reserves order as NewsClick founder insists ‘not a penny from China’

The Delhi High Court on Monday reserved its order in the petitions moved by NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and HR head Amit Chakraborty against their police remand in a UAPA case, LiveLaw reported.

During the hearing, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Purkayastha and Chakraborty, argued that the accused had not been informed of the grounds for arrest and that “not a penny” had been received by them from China.

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, on behalf of the Delhi Police, said that the accused were told about grounds of arrest, according to the report. He claimed that the allegations were very serious, and involved a conspiracy against the country with funds to the tune of Rs 75 crore. He said the court must refer to the case diary.

However, Sibal said the grounds of arrest are different from reasons and even the reasons provided are also different.

Purkayastha’s lawyer said his client was not allowed even a lawyer at the time of passing of the remand order. He submitted that the magistrate did not state that he had satisfied himself that the accused had access to a lawyer or had been provided with the grounds of arrest.

Justice Tushar Rao Gedela reserved the judgement after hearing counsels for both sides.

Purkayastha and Chakraborty were arrested on October 4. The UAPA case had been filed against NewsClick in August after The New York Times alleged the news site was among Chinese propaganda outlets funded by American tech mogul Neville Roy Singham. In the run up to the arrests, the Delhi police raided over 30 locations and questioned more than 35 journalists. Their electronic devices were also seized.

The Delhi police’s FIR against NewsClick claims that “big Chinese telecom companies like Xiaomi, Vivo” purportedly “incorporated thousands of shell companies in India” – and that one “Gautam Bhatia” is a “key person” in the matter. Read all about it here. 

The media outlet denied all the allegations and slammed the police action, calling it an attempt to “stifle fearless voices”. Earlier this week, 16 press groups also wrote to the Chief Justice of India, demanding that the “increasingly repressive use” of investigating agencies against the media be stopped.

Newslaundry also reported on the events that unfolded amid the police raid on journalists. A former NewsClick journalist told us that his laptop, phone, passbooks and property documents were seized, even though the police’s search warrant “was not in my name”. Read our report here.