Trouble mounts for NewsClick founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha and its HR head Amit Chakraborty as the Delhi High Court on Friday, October 13, dismissed their petition challenging their arrest and remand under the anti-terror law UAPA registered by Delhi Police’s Special Cell in the case of Chinese funding.
While upholding the trial court order remanding the NewsClick’s Prabir Purkayastha and Amit Chakraborty to Delhi Police custody for seven days in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) case against them, the single judge bench of Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said that the court “does not find any merit in either of the petitions”.
Delhi High Court dismisses the petitions moved by NewsClick founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha and its HR head Amit Chakraborty challenging their arrest and remand in the UAPA case registered by Delhi Police's Special Cell pic.twitter.com/Sld3LJSVl5
— ANI (@ANI) October 13, 2023
On Friday (October 6), NewsClick editor Prabir Purkayastha and the website’s Human Resources (HR) head Amit Chakraborty, who is being represented by ex-Congress loyalists and senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, moved the Delhi High Court challenging their arrest in the case of Chinese funding and seeking quashing of the FIR registered against them under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
The duo was arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police on Tuesday (October 3) and subsequently remanded to seven days of police custody by a Delhi court on October 4th. The special cell of the Delhi Police had registered an FIR in the matter on 17th August under Sections 13, 16, 17, 18, and 22 of the UAPA and Sections 153A and 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the news portal.
The arrest came after the Delhi Police conducted raids on the homes of several journalists and employees linked to NewsClick. The Delhi Police had registered a fresh case under UAPA, other than the ED case, as per reports. UAPA is related to charges under terrorist activities and terror funding.
