On Wednesday, a city court issued a notice to the Delhi police in response to a plea filed by Prabir Purkayastha and Amit Chakravarty, who had been arrested in a case lodged under the anti-terror law UAPA, due to allegations that the news portal they founded, NewsClick, had received money for pro-China propaganda.
The Additional Sessions Judge Hardeep Kaur directed the police to file their response by the next hearing, and gave Arshdeep Singh Khurana, the counsel for the accused, a copy of the remand application. Khurana then asked for a copy of the FIR to bring to the Delhi High Court to seek legal remedies for the two. The court adjourned the matter until the next day, when the Special Public Prosecutor would be present.
Purkayastha and Chakravarty had been taken into police custody for seven days, and a day prior, the police had searched over 30 locations and questioned more than 40 suspects, including journalists Urmilesh, Aunindyo Chakravarty, Abhisar Sharma, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, historian Sohail Hashmi, satirist Sanjay Rajoura and D Raghunandan of the Centre for Technology and Development. After being questioned for over six hours, they were allowed to go, and the police sealed NewsClick’s office in Delhi.
