Notification From Supreme Court To Delhi Police On The Appeal Against Detention Of Hr Head Of Newsclick
On October 3, Purkayastha and Chakravarty were taken into custody by the Delhi Police Special Cell. They filed a motion with the Delhi High Court contesting both the arrest and the seven-day police detention.
The founder and chief editor of NewsClick, Prabir Purkayastha, and the head of the news portal’s HR department, Amit Chakravarty, filed a plea challenging the Delhi High Court’s ruling upholding their arrest under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) on the grounds that they had received funding from China. On Thursday, the Supreme Court sent notice to Delhi Police in response to their plea.
On October 30, the division bench of Justice B R Gavai and Justice P K Mishra agreed to rehearse the case.
On October 3, Purkayastha and Chakravarty were taken into custody by the Delhi Police Special Cell. They filed a motion in the Delhi High Court contesting both the arrest and the seven-day police detention.
In rejecting their argument that they ought to have been given the reasons for their detention, the High Court stated in rejecting their petition on October 13 that the UAPA does not require written justifications and merely refers to the accused being “informed” about the reasons for arrest. After redacting “sensitive material,” the court declared that it would be “advisable” for the police to send an accused person written notice of the reasons for their detention going forward.
According to the High Court, there was no question that Purkayastha’s attorney received a written request for remand within a day of his detention. Additionally, the remand order said that although his attorney did take part in the remand procedures, they opposed it “telephonically directly to the Special Judge.
Investigative authorities became interested in NewsClick after reading in The New York Times about money the company had received from an American businessman allegedly connected to the Chinese establishment.
