New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Monday (October 9) reserved its judgment in the pleas filed by NewsClick founding editor Prabir Purkayastha and HR head Amit Chakraborty challenging the remand order issued after their arrest. The two were arrested on October 3 in relation to an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act case.
Purkayastha and Chakraborty have also challenged the FIR against them, and the judge will decide if notice is to be sent to the Delhi Police on that.
Justice Tushar Rao Gedela reserved the judgment after hearing both the petitioners’ counsel and the Delhi Police’s lawyer. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the Delhi Police.
Arguing for Purkayastha, senior advocate Kapil Sibal said that the grounds of arrest were not provided at the time of arrest or even in the remand order, thus going against the Supreme Court’s order on arrests. The editor was also not allowed to have a lawyer of his choice present during the passage of the remand order, it was argued.
Sibal also stated that “not a rupee, not a penny” had come from China to NewsClick and Purkayastha. The Delhi Police FIR – which casts a wide net, ranging from Chinese phone producers to lawyers to protesting farmers – has claimed that the portal received Chinese government funding to spread propaganda.
Both Sibal and senior advocate Dayan Krishnan, appearing for Purkayastha, referred to the Supreme Court’s last week judgment in the case of Pankaj Bansal vs. Union of India, in which the court had said that a written copy of the grounds for arrest must be provided to an accused at the time of arrest.
The magistrate who sent Purkayastha and Chakraborty to seven days police remand did not ensure that this had been followed, and also did not check if the accused had access to their lawyers, Krishnan argued.
Mehta said that petitioners had been told about the grounds for arrest. He argued that under UAPA guidelines, a written copy is not essential.