NewsClick founder, HR head sent to 7-day police custody

urkayastha and human resources head Amit Chakravarty, arrested in a case filed under anti-terror law UAPA, have been sent to police custody for seven days, even as the media organisation has said it has not been provided with a copy of the FIR or informed about the offences.

The Delhi Police arrested Purkayastha and Chakravarty on Tuesday after searching nearly 50 locations and questioning several journalists in connection with the case filed under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), following allegations that the portal received money to spread pro-China propaganda.

Police have sealed NewsClick’s office in Delhi. Forty-six suspects were questioned and digital devices, including laptops and mobile phones, besides documents taken away for examination.

In a statement, the portal said it has not been provided with a copy of the FIR or informed about the offences for which people associated with it have been charged. “Yesterday, raids were carried out by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police at various locations, including NewsClick’s offices, residences of journalists and employees. We have not been provided with a copy of the FIR or informed about the exact particulars of the offences with which we have been charged,” it said.

The portal claimed that police seized electronic devices from its premises and the houses of its employees without following the due process, such as the provision of seizure memos, hash values of the seized data or even copies of the data.

“NewsClick’s office has also been sealed in a blatant attempt at preventing us from continuing our reporting,” the statement said.

“We strongly condemn these actions of a government that refuses to respect journalistic independence and treats criticism as sedition or ‘anti-national’ propaganda,” it added.

A senior officer said Purkayastha and Chakravarty were produced before a court that remanded them in a seven-day police custody late on Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile, a city court has issued a notice to the Delhi police on a plea moved by Purkayastha and Chakravarty.

The court agreed to hand over a copy of the remand application filed by the police to advocate Arshdeep Singh Khurana, the counsel for the accused.

Khurana requested the court for the copy of the FIR so that he could move the Delhi High Court for the legal remedies available to the accused.

The court also allowed the counsel to meet the accused for an hour daily during the remand period.

Civil society members held a demonstration at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and slammed the BJP-led Centre over the developments, while journalists from several media organisations also staged a protest near the Press Club of India (PCI).

Prominent journalists’ bodies, including the Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC), PCI and Digipub News India Foundation, have sought the intervention of Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud in the matter.

On its part, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has justified the police action against NewsClick, saying those involved in anti-India activities will face the strictest action as people have given the mandate to the Narendra Modi government to deal firmly with such elements.

Officials earlier said 46 “suspects” were questioned and digital devices, including laptops and mobile phones, besides documents taken away for examination.

The searches began on Tuesday morning and were concentrated in Delhi-NCR.

Among those questioned were journalists Urmilesh, Aunindyo Chakravarty, Abhisar Sharma, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta as well as historian Sohail Hashmi, satirist Sanjay Rajoura and D Raghunandan of the Centre for Technology and Development.

After being questioned for more than six hours, they were allowed to go.