NewsClick case: Delhi court extends Purkayastha, Chakravarty’s judicial custody by 5 days

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Prashant Kumar Mishra issued the notice to the Delhi Police and sought their response by 30 October after senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Devadatt Kamat, appearing for Purkayastha and Chakravarty, respectively, said they were in jail and the pleas be heard early.

On 16 October, the top court agreed to list the matter urgently after Sibal mentioned it before the Bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud.

The chief justice had asked Sibal to circulate the case papers and said he would take a call on the urgent listing of the matter.

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HC dismissed plea

The Delhi High Court had on 13 October dismissed their pleas against the arrest and subsequent police remand in the case. Both were arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police on 3 October.

They subsequently moved the high court challenging the arrest as well as the seven-day police custody and sought immediate release as interim relief.

The court, however, refused to grant them relief, saying there was no procedural infirmity or violation of the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in arresting them.

The trial court had on 10 October sent them to judicial custody for 10 days.

The city police have lodged cases against the two under the anti-terror law UAPA for allegedly receiving money to spread pro-China propaganda.

According to the FIR, 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.

The allegations

It also alleged that Purkayastha conspired with a group — the People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) — to sabotage the electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Purkayastha had told the Delhi High Court that the allegations against him were “false” and “bogus”, and “not a penny has come from China”.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the investigation agency, said that the case involved “serious offences” and the probe was still on.

Sibal refuted the claim. “All facts are false. Not a penny has come from China…The whole thing is bogus,” he said,

Sibal and senior advocate Dayan Krishnan contended that their arrest and remand in the case cannot be sustained on several legal counts, including that they were not told about the grounds at the time of arrest — or even to date.

The remand order was passed by the trial court in a mechanical manner, in the absence of their lawyers, they said.

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The remand report 

The Delhi Police had registered a case under Sections 13, 16, 17, 18, and 22 of the anti-terror UAPA, and also invoked Sections 153A (promoting enmity between two groups) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code on 17 August.

About 46 people, including nine women journalists, were questioned on 3 October, the day the Special Cell raided several locations connected to the news website in Delhi and NCR. About 25 journalists and contributors were questioned for a second time on 10 October.

An official said that the gadgets seized from them were sent to the 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 US-based businessman Neville Roy Singham, Purkayastha, and Chakravarty were in direct touch with each other and discussed how to create a map of India without Kashmir and to show Arunachal Pradesh as a disputed area.

(With PTI inputs)