NewsClick founder moves to the Supreme Court against the UAPA case, following Delhi HC setback

NewsClick founder and editor-in-chief, Prabir Purkayastha, and the head of the firm’s human resources department, Amit Chakraborty, have filed a petition in the Supreme Court on Monday. This is in response to a Delhi High Court ruling that denied their request to revoke their arrest and remand, relating to a UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) case.

The Supreme Court bench, consisting of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, have asked Prabir Purkayastha's counsel, Kapil Sibal, to submit papers following which an urgent hearing date will be decided upon.

Two individuals have been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for allegedly accepting money to promote pro-China propaganda. As per the FIR, the news portal in question allegedly received a significant amount of funds from China to destabilize India's sovereignty and create dissatisfaction against the country. The FIR also alleges that Purkayastha collaborated with a group called the People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) to disrupt the electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The Delhi High Court has recently ruled that the UAPA, a stringent anti-terror law, does not mandate the police to provide written grounds of arrest at the time of detention. This ruling was made in response to the claims made by the NewsClick founder and the HR head that they were entitled to written grounds of arrest at the time of their detention. "The petition, being devoid of any merit, along with pending applications, is dismissed…After examining the entire issue from the right perspective, it appears as of now that the grounds of arrest were indeed conveyed to the petitioner, as soon as may be, after the arrest, and as such, there does not appear to be any procedural infirmity or violation of the provisions of the Section 43B of the UAPA or the Article 22(1) of the Constitution of India and as such, the arrest is in accordance with the law.” observed the Delhi High Court. In addition, the court has urged the police to provide written grounds of arrest to the accused, after removing any confidential information.