New Delhi | The Supreme Court Monday said it will consider listing for hearing the plea of NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and its HR head Amit Chakravarty against the Delhi High Court's rejection of their petitions challenging their arrest and police remand in a case lodged under anti-terror law UAPA.
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.
The CJI said he will take a call on the listing.
On October 13, the Delhi High Court had dismissed the duo's petitions against the arrest and subsequent police remand in the case.
The high court rejected their contention that they ought to have been supplied with the grounds of arrest when they were apprehended by police and said the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) does not mandate furnishing the grounds in writing and only speaks of the accused being "informed" about the reasons for arrest.
The high court had said it would be “advisable” that the police henceforth provide the grounds of arrest in writing to an accused after redacting “sensitive material”.
Dismissing the petitions, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela had said there was no “procedural infirmity” or violation of legal or constitutional provisions in relation to the arrest and the remand order is sustainable in law.
“After examining the entire issue in the right perspective, it appears as of now that the grounds of arrest were indeed conveyed to the petitioner, as soon as may be, after the arrest and as such, there does not appear to be any procedural infirmity or violation of the provisions of the Section 43B of the UAPA or the Article 22(1) of the Constitution of India and as such, the arrest are in accordance with law,” the court had stated.
The high court had noted that offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) directly impact the stability, integrity and sovereignty of the country and are of utmost importance since they affect national security.
It had said the arrestee only needed to be informed about the grounds of arrest within 24 hours of being apprehended.
Purkayastha and Chakravarty 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 an interim relief.
On October 10, the trial court sent them to judicial custody for ten days.
A case has been lodged against the two under the anti-terror law for allegedly receiving money to spread pro-China propaganda.
According to the FIR, a large amount of funds to the news portal allegedly came in 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.