Newsclick editor Prabir Purkayastha has been ordered to be released by the Supreme Court. His arrest and remand by the Delhi Police under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was invalidated by the Supreme Court and directed to release him.
A bench headed by Justice BR Gavai said that there is no hesitation in reaching the conclusion that the arrest is illegal as the remand copy for the arrest was not given in writing. A copy of the remand application, written notice of the grounds of arrest was not provided to the accused-appellant or his counsel prior to the passing of the remand order dated October 4, 2023. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal represented Prabir before the apex court.
On April 30, the Supreme Court questioned the Delhi Police for producing NewsClick editor Prabir Purkayastha before a magistrate without notifying his lawyer after his arrest. The Supreme Court had raised questions by reprimanding the Delhi Police for this haste. A bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice Sandeep Mehta expressed surprise that the remand order was passed before the remand application was made to Newsclick editor Prabir Purkayastha’s lawyer.
A bench headed by Justice Gavai had issued a notice in October last year for not telling Delhi Police the basis of police remand.
The Delhi Police raided the offices of NewsClick and the residences of the news portal’s editors and journalists, and on October 3 last year, the Delhi Police arrested Purkayastha and HR head Amit Chakraborty. He was produced before the magistrate at 6 am the next day.
Prabir Purkayastha was arrested in connection with alleged Chinese funding to promote anti-national propaganda through the portal. According to the FIR, the huge amount of money from China was used to fund the news portal to ‘obstruct India’s sovereignty’ and to incite disaffection against the country. came to create
Purkayastha was accused of conspiring with the People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) group to disrupt the electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The bench emphasized that this would affect the appellant’s arrest and subsequent remand. The bench said that on the basis of the decision of this court in the Pankaj Bansal case, the appellant is entitled to the direction of release. His plea against his arrest and subsequent police remand in the case was dismissed by the Delhi High Court.