After raiding 30 locations connected to China-funded NewsClick and interrogating 43 employees for hours, the Delhi Police arrested NewsClick founder and its editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha and Amit Chakravarty, the organisation’s human resources head, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Before the arrests were made under UAPA, the Delhi Police had raided several locations and seized the laptops and phones of journalists involved with NewsClick. The raids and arrests come after an investigation into illicit foreign funds received by the portal. The investigation by the Enforcement Directorate started in the year 2021 and subsequently, there was evidence that NewsClick also got funds from China for pro-China, anti-India propaganda.
After the raids and subsequent arrests, several Leftists and Islamists have come out in support of NewsClick – calling the investigation an assault on the freedom of the press. Interestingly, none of these ‘journalists’ who came out in support of NewsClick bothered to talk about the assault on the democratic process of India when a hostile power funds a so-called news platform to undermine national interest and indulge in pro-China propaganda.
Keeping in tune with the propaganda that was unleashed after the investigation against NewsClick and its employees, The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), an organisation linked to Urban Naxals, Maoists and Jihadis like PFI came out in support of the China-funded propaganda outlet.
According to a report in The Hindu, PUCL leaders Kavita Srivastava and V. Suresh condemned the search on journalists connected with Newsclick and other media professionals. “It is shocking that the police are investigating a case under draconian terror sections 13,16, 17, 18 and 22C of the UAPA and sec. 153 (A) (hate speech) and 120 (B) (conspiracy) of IPC against media professionals. The searches have happened in more than 30 locations in Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad today (Tuesday),” the statement said.
The statement further said that these raids and arrests were a part of a larger witchhunt that had been unleashed against NewsClick by the government of India. It also said that the raids and have arrests have taken place a week before the cases are listed in the Delhi High Court in order to influence public opinion on the matter.
“What is alarming is the manner in which the Delhi Police seized all the data in the journalists’ electronic devices, in several instances, without even providing a hash value, thereby compromising the integrity of their data and violating their privacy and the identity of their sources. This is an egregious assault on the right to privacy, the right to dignity, as well as the freedom of journalists to practice their profession fearlessly,” it added.
PUCL and its antecedents – Links to Urban Naxals, Maoists and Jihadis
PUCL is a fraternal organization of the People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR). The People’s Union for Civil Liberties is the same organisation that has extensive links to Maoists. ‘Urban Naxals’ who were arrested in the Elgar Parishad case and in connection with an alleged assassination plot against the Prime Minister are intimately linked with the PUCL.
The PUCL and its associate organisations have a history of ties to Naxals and separatists in Kashmir as well as Manipur. Over the years, numerous members of the organisations have been arrested for their links to Maoists. One of those raided in connection with the violence at Bhima Koregaon, Sudha Bharadwaj, is the General Secretary of the Chhattisgarh unit of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).
Father Stan Swamy was also associated with the PUCL. The narrative that PUCL propagates is quite often antithetical to a layman’s idea of civil society. On the website of the organization, it can be seen that it condemned the hanging of the Islamic terrorist Afzal Guru.
As per the report of Delhi PUCL for 2016-17, they assisted Islamist outfit PFI “in the matter relating to violation of their right to protest and their freedom of speech violated by the Delhi police on 5th Nov. 2017 in Delhi”.
‘Naxalite’ Binayak Sen was also the Vice President of the PUCL even after his conviction by the Raipur Sessions Court. The West Bengal unit of PUCL also published a book exonerating Sen of all his crimes and branded him a “victim of state atrocity”.
Also recently, the organization published an article in which it condemned the killings of gangster Atiq Ahmed and his brother in law and slammed the UP police for not assuring proper security measures during the incident. Ahmed and his brother in law were shot dead by three persons who posed as media individuals and fired around 22 bullets at the gangster. “PUCL is outraged by and strongly condemns the cold-blooded shooting down by a 3-member gang of politician and former minister, Atiq Ahmed and his brother, Ashraf Ahmed,” the article read.
Further downplaying the criminal activities of the gangster, PUCL wrote, “The killing is not just a security lapse on the part of the police, who failed to check the identity of the killers posing as media persons; a much more disturbing issue is how the killer gang knew that a media meeting would be held in the open, outside the hospital.
“Equally worrisome is the question why Atiq Ahmed and his brother were not transported by ambulance, why the medical check-up was at such an unusual time late at night and why despite the security concerns, the police permitted such a media meet in an open space and in public. The other question is as to why the police did not seek police custody of those who did the shooting. The answer to these questions will tell us whether it was a question of mere negligence by the UP police or a deeper conspiracy by the UP police and the UP administration, in the murders themselves?” it added.
It is rather evident that PUCL not only has inextricable links with Naxals and Maoists but Jihadi elements as well. After the Jihadi outfit PFI was banned by the Government of India, PUCL had gone on the record demanding a revocation of the ban. The PUCL stated in a release that a dialogue with the PFI should be started. The organisation demanded that the authorities refrain from using their arrest powers arbitrarily to target Muslim youths based on their involvement or support of the PFI and its affiliates.
The statement by PUCL reads, “The PUCL is deeply concerned about the implications for democracy and the constitutional rights of freedom of speech and association in the light of the ongoing ‘Operation Octopus’ which is being carried out against the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its affiliates, across the country as a joint operation of the CRPF, the home ministry, ATS, NIA, ED, RAW, State police, and other agencies. It has consisted of mass raids being carried out in two rounds, in more than 16 states of India over hundreds of locations and with over 300 arrests.”
“The raids, which have been conducted as a media spectacle showcasing massive state power, bodes ill for a constitutional democracy based on the rule of law, pushing the Muslim community further into fear, intimidation, alienation, and silence,” it further adds.
