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After over 7 months, SC finds NewsClick founder’s arrest illegal, void

In a judgement pronounced Wednesday May 15, 2024 the Supreme Court of India ordered immediate release of NewsClick Founder and Editor-in-Chief Prabir Purkayastha from jail.

Wednesday May 15, 2024 2:36 PM, ummid.com News Network

New Delhi: In a judgement pronounced Wednesday May 15, 2024 the Supreme Court of India ordered immediate release of NewsClick Founder and Editor-in-Chief Prabir Purkayastha from jail.

While ordering the immediate release of Prabir Purkayastha the apex court also termed his arrest illegal and void.

"There is no hesitation in the mind of the court that the grounds of arrest were not provided, which vitiates the arrest. The appellant is entitled to release from custody after the Pankaj Bansal case. The remand order is invalid," said Justice Mehta.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta also said the remand copy was not provided in the case, which makes his arrest void.

While the SC judgement Wednesday brought the much needed relief to the NewsClick founder it’s a pity that the court took more than seven months to conclude that his arrest was illegal and void.

Case Details

Prabir Purkayastha was arrested under the stringent anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) on October 04, 2023 a day after his office was raided by the Delhi Police Special Team.

Along with Prabir Purkayastha, the Special Cell had also arrested Amit Chakravarty, the HR head of the news portal.

The raids were conducted based on a case filed on August 17 under the stringent anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

NewsClick was under the scanner of Enforcement Directorate (ED) since 2021 when its offices were raided after the U.S. based The New York Times in a report claimed it received funds from American billionaire Neville Roy Singham, allegedly for the dissemination of Chinese propaganda.

According to the reports, Delhi Police Special Cell raids were based on the input shared by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) “indicating unlawful activities by the suspects” and alleged violations in foreign funding.

Critics however claimed that the news portal was subjected to harassment and its founder was arrested because of its reporting which is considered “anti-establishment”.

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