New Delhi, Oct 4: NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and human resources head Amit Chakravarty, arrested in a case filed under anti-terror law UAPA, have been sent to police custody for seven days, even as the media organisation has said it has not been provided with a copy of the FIR or informed about the offences.
Civil society members held a demonstration at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and slammed the BJP-led Centre over the developments, while journalists from several media organisations also staged a protest near the Press Club of India (PCI).
Prominent journalists’ bodies, including the Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC), PCI and Digipub News India Foundation, have sought the intervention of Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud in the matter.
On its part, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has justified the police action against NewsClick, saying those involved in anti-India activities will face the strictest action as people have given the mandate to the Narendra Modi government to deal firmly with such elements.
The Delhi Police arrested Purkayastha and Chakravarty on Tuesday after searching nearly 50 locations and questioning several journalists in connection with the case filed under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), following allegations that the portal received money to spread pro-China propaganda.
Police have sealed NewsClick’s office in Delhi. Forty-six suspects were questioned and digital devices, including laptops and mobile phones, besides documents taken away for examination.
In a statement, the portal said it has not been provided with a copy of the FIR or informed about the offences for which people associated with it have been charged.
“Yesterday, raids were carried out by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police at various locations, including NewsClick’s offices, residences of journalists and employees. We have not been provided with a copy of the FIR or informed about the exact particulars of the offences with which we have been charged,” it said.
The portal claimed that police seized electronic devices from its premises and the houses of its employees without following the due process, such as the provision of seizure memos, hash values of the seized data or even copies of the data.
“NewsClick’s office has also been sealed in a blatant attempt at preventing us from continuing our reporting,” the statement said.
“We strongly condemn these actions of a government that refuses to respect journalistic independence and treats criticism as sedition or ‘anti-national’ propaganda,” it added.
Meanwhile, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan described the Delhi Police’s action against NewsClick as “objectionable” and a “fascist method” of suppressing dissenting voices.
Addressing a press conference, BJP’s national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia slammed the Congress and other constituents of the opposition INDIA bloc for coming out in support of NewsClick and said police have taken action against the portal on the basis of “solid evidence”.
He said the people of the country “expect” that the Modi government will take the “strictest action” against anyone involved in anti-India activities.
“Newsclick was involved in anti-India activities wearing a mask of journalism. And that too, taking financial support from China, which has been against India. Action is being taken against it,” Bhatia said.
A senior officer said Purkayastha and Chakravarty were produced before a court that remanded them in a seven-day police custody late on Tuesday evening.
Meanwhile, a city court has issued a notice to the Delhi police on a plea moved by Purkayastha and Chakravarty.
The court agreed to hand over a copy of the remand application filed by the police to advocate Arshdeep Singh Khurana, the counsel for the accused.
Khurana requested the court for the copy of the FIR so that he could move the Delhi High Court for the legal remedies available to the accused.
The court also allowed the counsel to meet the accused for an hour daily during the remand period.
The protest called by the Left-affiliated All India Students’ Association (AISA) at Jantar Mantar saw the participation of journalists, students and some citizens.
The students’ outfit called the raids an “attack on press freedom” and demanded the immediate release of those arrested.
Carrying banners that read “We will neither bend nor crawl”, “Release Prabir Purkayastha” and “Stop attack on press freedom”, the students’ outfit voiced its dissent against the police action.
The family members of historian Sohail Hashmi, whose house was also raided by police on Tuesday, participated in the protest.
“These attempts will not deter us from standing for what is right,” his sister, Shabnam Hashmi, said.
Addressing a gathering at the protest site, AISA’s Delhi state secretary Neha alleged that the government action is a blatant attack on the democratic values of India.
“The government is targeting the journalists who raised their voice in support of the farmers’ issue. We condemn this attack on the press freedom in the country,” she said.
In related developments, journalist bodies sought the CJI’s intervention in the matter.
A letter addressed to CJI Chandrachud was signed by organisations, such as the Digipub News India Foundation, IWPC and PCI, among others.
The journalist bodies said a large number of scribes in the country find themselves working under the threat of reprisal.
“And it is imperative that the judiciary confronts power with the fundamental truth that there is a Constitution to which all of us are answerable,” they said.
They demanded framing of norms to discourage seizure of journalists’ phones and laptops on a whim, evolving guidelines for the interrogation of journalists and seizures from them, to ensure that these are not undertaken as fishing expeditions with no bearing to actual offences and finding ways to ensure the accountability of State agencies.
The press bodies cited the raids conducted on Tuesday on the houses of 46 journalists, editors, writers and professionals associated with NewsClick.
Scores of journalists staged a protest near the PCI. Addressing the gathering, journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta shared his experience of being questioned by police.
“The entire staff of the Special Cell asked me many questions. However, their behaviour was very decent,” he said.
Representatives of the National Union of Journalists (India) met Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora and handed over a letter to him.
“A section of the media and some political parties are trying to create an atmosphere of fear by terming it an attack on the media regarding the issue of Chinese funding,” the letter read.
It said the NUJ(I) believes that some news portals running through foreign funding are becoming “factories of fake news”.
Officials earlier said 46 “suspects” were questioned and digital devices, including laptops and mobile phones, besides documents taken away for examination.
The searches began on Tuesday morning and were concentrated in Delhi-NCR.
Among those questioned were journalists Urmilesh, Aunindyo Chakravarty, Abhisar Sharma, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta as well as historian Sohail Hashmi, satirist Sanjay Rajoura and D Raghunandan of the Centre for Technology and Development.
After being questioned for more than six hours, they were allowed to go. (Agencies)
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