NewsClick founder Prabir, HR head Chakravarty move Supreme Court against arrest in UAPA case

Prabir Purkayastha. File Photo/Internet

Prabir Purkayastha, the founder of NewsClick, and its HR head Amit Chakravarty have approached the Supreme Court to challenge his arrest and detention under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The arrest is related to allegations of Chinese funding aimed at promoting 'anti-national' propaganda, news agency ANI reported.

The Delhi High Court had refused to interfere with their arrest and police remand in a case lodged under the anti-terror law UAPA

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Prabir Purkayastha, has moved the matter, requesting urgent listing before the Supreme Court. In response, the Supreme Court has asked Sibal to circulate the case papers, after which it will decide on the listing of the case.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took note of the submissions of senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, appearing for Purkayastha and Chakravarty, that the matter needed urgent hearing and asked him to circulate the case papers.

"This is the NewsClick matter. The journalists are in police custody. Here one of the accused is a 75-year-old man," Sibal said, according to another news agency PTI. The Chief Justice of India said he would take a call on the listing.

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On October 13, a Delhi High Court bench dismissed the plea against the arrest and subsequent police remand of Purkayastha and Chakravarty in the case. Both were arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police on October 3.

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

On October 10, the trial court sent them to judicial custody for 10 days.

A case has been lodged against the two under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (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.

It also alleged that Purkayastha conspired with a group -- People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) -- to sabotage the electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. (With inputs from agencies)