The Supreme Court of India declared the arrest and subsequent remand of NewsClick founder and Editor-in-Chief Prabir Purkayastha by the Delhi Police as invalid and ordered his immediate release on Wednesday.
Purkayastha had been in custody related to terror funding case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
A bench comprising of justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta ordered the release of NewsClick founders in the case. The court ordered Purkayastha's release only subject to him furnishing surety and bail bond.
In its verdict, the bench noted that a copy of the remand application and grounds of arrest were not provided to Purkayastha violating the principles of natural justice.
The apex court said, "A copy of the remand application was not provided to the appellant. This vitiates the arrest of the appellant... Though we would have released him without surety, since the chargesheet has been filed, we release him with surety and a bail bond."
NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha has been in custody since October 2, 2023. He was lodged in Tihar jail under the UAPA and applied in a pending case seeking release on the grounds of medical emergency.
He had approached the Supreme Court to challenge his arrest under the UAPA over alleged Chinese funding to promote anti-national propaganda.
Purkayastha had challenged the Delhi HC order of October 13, 2023 which upheld the trial court order remanding him to police custody. Since then he has been remanded to judicial custody.
NewsClick's human resrouces department head Amit Chakravarty had earlier withdrawn his plea against arrest from the Supreme Court. A Delhi court had allowed to Chakravarty to turn an approver in the case against the media house.
Purkayastha and Chakraborty found themselves in the custody of the Delhi Police's Special Cell on October 3, subsequent to raids conducted at 30 locations linked to their online news platform and its journalists. Allegations of receiving funds for pro-China propaganda led to their arrest under the UAPA.
In a bid to challenge their arrest and the subsequent seven-day police custody, Purkayastha and Chakraborty turned to the High Court, seeking immediate release as interim relief. However, their pleas were rebuffed by the High Court, which cited the gravity of the alleged offenses affecting national security.
The FIR suggests a substantial flow of funds from China to the news portal, purportedly aimed at undermining India's sovereignty and fostering disaffection against the nation. Furthermore, the investigative agency accused Purkayastha of colluding with the People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) to disrupt the electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Advocate Arshdeep Khurana, in response to the Supreme Court's ruling, conveyed, "The Supreme Court has held the arrest and the remand proceedings to be illegal and has directed the release of Purkayastha. We have been directed to furnish the bail bond before the trial court. This is a major and big relief because we have been maintaining from the beginning that the entire proceedings against him were illegal and the manner of arrest was illegal which has now been upheld by the Supreme Court."
