The Delhi High Court on Monday, reserved an order on their pleas. “Arguments heard. Order reserved,” said Justice Tushar Rao Gedela.
Protests were held across the country against the arrest. (Instagram)
With the seven-day police remand of NewsClick editor Prabir Purkayastha and HR head Amit Chakravarty granted by the court ending on Tuesday, 10 October, they were scheduled to be produced in court.
An officer said that both accused are likely to be produced before the court on Tuesday morning, and the IO (investigating officer) may seek for extension of their remand.
Delhi Police Special Cell has questioned about 25 journalists and contributors of the NewsClick for a second time in connection with a Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case registered against the online news portal for allegedly peddling of an “anti-national” agenda in the country, sources said on Monday, 9 October.
An officer said that the investigation into the case is still on and no one has been given the clean chit so far.
About 46 people, including nine women journalists, were questioned on 3 October, the day the Special Cell raided several locations connected to the website in Delhi and NCR.
“Since the arrest took place, everyone was called for the second round of questioning. About 25 of them have appeared so far,” said a police officer.
The Delhi High Court, on Monday, 9 October, reserved an order on their pleas. “Arguments heard. Order reserved,” said Justice Tushar Rao Gedela.
Purkayastha told the Delhi High Court that the allegations against him were “false” and “bogus”, and “not a penny has come from China”.
Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the investigation agency, said that the case involves “serious offences” and the probe was still going on.
“About ₹75 crore odd…investigation is on and I can show it from the case diary… came from a person staying in China and the purpose is to ensure that the stability and especially the integrity of this country is compromised,” he said.
“One of the most serious allegations found in the e-mail exchanges between accused persons with somebody sitting in China is that we will prepare a map where we will show J&K and what we call Arunachal Pradesh…they use the expression which Chinese use, namely ‘northern border of India’, and not show that (Arunachal) to be a part of India,” SG Mehta told the court.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Purkayastha, refuted the claim.
“All facts are false. Not a penny has come from China…The whole thing is bogus,” Sibal said.
Sibal, along with senior advocate Dayan Krishnan, contended their arrest and remand in the present case cannot be sustained on several legal counts, including that they were not told about the grounds of arrest at the time of arrest or even till date.
The remand order was passed by the trial court in a mechanical manner, in the absence of their lawyers, they said.
An official said that these gadgets were sent to the FSL (Forensic Science Lab) for examination and extraction of any content related to the matter.
According to the Delhi Police’s remand copy, which was submitted before the court on 4 October when it produced Purkayastha and Chakravarty, the analysis of the e-mails shows that Neville Roy Singham, Prabir Purkayastha, and Amit Chakravarty were in direct touch with each other and were found to be discussing how to create a map of India without Kashmir and to show Arunachal Pradesh as a disputed area.
“To achieve the above objective the accused persons in the guise of foreign funds received money of more than Prabir ₹115 crore in the companies named as PPK NewsClick, GSPAN India, JJ Enterprises, Virtunet System,” stated the remand copy.
The Delhi Police had in the matter registered a case under sections 13, 16, 17,18 and 22 of the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act invoked and sections 153A (promoting enmity between two groups) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code on 17 August.
The police, on Tuesday, 3 October, searched more than 30 locations and questioned several dozen journalists in connection with the case. They were allowed to go after questioning that, in some cases, extended to over six hours.
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 & Development.
Meanwhile, Pranjoy Guha Thakurtha, one among the questioned, told South First, “They couldn’t get him (Prabir) under the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act), the FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act) or the Income Tax Act, so finally they got him under police custody under UAPA.”
“I haven’t seen the FIR. It is said that the FIR was launched on the 17 August. So almost a month-and-a-half later, all these things happened. It is sending a chilling… message to all journalists that this is what the government is capable of doing,” he said.
“They don’t want independent critical journalism to continue in this country. That’s the only conclusion I can draw,” Guha Thakurta added.
A total of 46 journalists and contributors to the NewsClick were questioned on Tuesday and their mobile phones and other electronic gadgets were seized.
Prominent journalists’ bodies, including the Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC), Press Club of India, and Digipub News India Foundation, have sought the intervention of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud in the matter.
(With PTI inputs)
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