After facing setback in the Delhi High Court, NewsClick
founder Prabir Purkayastha and HR head Amit Chakravarty moved the Supreme Court
on Monday. The Delhi High Court order had dismissed their plea against arrest
in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case.
The Supreme Court directed Purkayastha’s counsel Kapil
Sibal to circulate papers and said it would decide on its hearing.
The high court, on Friday, had refused to interfere
with the arrest and subsequent police remand of Purkayastha and Chakravarty in
a case lodged against them under anti-terror law UAPA.
The high court cancelled their contention that they
ought to have been supplied with the grounds of arrest when they were apprehended
by police and said the UAPA does not mandate furnishing the written grounds and
only speaks of the accused being “informed” about the reasons for arrest.
The court said it would be “advisable” that the police
henceforth provide the grounds of arrest in writing to an accused after
redacting “sensitive material”.
Dismissing the petitions, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela
said there was no “procedural infirmity” or flouting of legal or constitutional
provisions in connection to the arrest and the remand order is sustainable in
law.
“The petition, being devoid of any merit, along with
pending applications, is dismissed,” said the court in its order passed on the
petition by the portal’s founder.
The court highlighted offences under the UAPA directly
impact the stability, integrity and sovereignty of the country and are of
utmost importance since they affect national security.
The petitioners, besides assailing their arrest over
non-supply of the reasons for it, had contended that the subsequent remand
order sending them to seven-day police custody was passed in the nonattendance
of their lawyers.
It was also alleged that there was an “obvious
discrepancy” in the trial court’s remand order because while the order recorded
6 am as the time of pronouncement, in terms of the high court rules, Purkayastha’s
lawyer was sent the remand application through WhatsApp only at 7 am.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Dayan Krishnan
appeared for Purkayastha. Purkayastha and Chakravarty were arrested by the
Special Cell of the Delhi Police on October 3.
They subsequently moved the high court challenging the
arrest as well as the seven-day police custody and sought immediate release as
an interim relief.
Delhi Police, represented by Solicitor General Tushar
Mehta, had objected to the petitions saying ₹75 crore came to the news portal
from a person in China to ensure that the country’s stability and integrity is
compromised, and that due legal process, as prescribed under UAPA, was
followed.
He said the case involved “serious offences” and the
probe was still going on. On October 10, the trial court sent them to judicial
custody for 10 days.
The two were accused of receiving money to spread
pro-China propaganda. The FIR stated 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.
It also alleged that Purkayastha conspired with a
group – People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) – to sabotage the
electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Agencies
