Hand FIR copy to NewsClick, court tells cops; 10 journalists questioned

Purkayastha and Chakraborty were arrested by the Delhi Police Special Cell which had registered an FIR in August under sections of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code.

The Special Cell questioned 46 people, including journalists who were associated with the portal in the past, asking them if they had covered the anti-CAA protests, Delhi riots and the farm protests. Their digital devices were also seized.

Advocate Arshdeep Singh, representing NewsClick, had moved the Patiala House Courts for a copy of the FIR and the police remand application. On Wednesday, the court had granted him the police remand application, but not the FIR since the Public Prosecutor was not present in court.

Among those questioned by the Special Cell were journalists Abhisar Sharma, Bhasha Singh, Urmilesh, Aunindyo Chakravarty, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Satyam Tiwari, Subodh Verma, cartoonist Irfan, historian Sohail Hashmi and satirist Sanjay Rajoura.

On Thursday, 10 journalists were questioned for a second time in connection with the UAPA case. Police called the journalists to the Special Cell’s office in Lodhi Colony to join the investigation around noon and questioned them for 5-7 hours.

In the court of Additional Sessions Judge Hardeep Kaur, lawyers for the prosecution and defence argued on the “illegality” of the arrest.

Citing a judgement of the Supreme Court, NewsClick said the grounds of arrest must be given to the accused in writing.

Public Prosecutor Atul Kumar Srivastava countered this and said that the judgement relied upon by NewsClick referred only to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and not to UAPA cases.

Reading from the remand application which stated that the accused were undermining the unity of India, he said the grounds of arrest were already mentioned.

NewsClick’s lawyer said that the judgement applied to UAPA as well. “Remand application is made after the arrest. We were informed about the grounds only after the arrest,” the portal’s lawyer said.

The police action followed an FIR filed on August 17 based on the Enforcement Directorate’s inputs that NewsClick had allegedly received illegal funding from China, routed through the US. The ED had searched NewsClick’s premises in February 2021 as part of its probe into foreign remittances allegedly received between 2018 and 2021.

On Wednesday, NewsClick released a statement, saying it “does not publish any news or information at the behest of any Chinese entity or authority, directly or indirectly… does not propagate Chinese propaganda on its website”.