NewsClick
founder Prabir Purkayastha and its HR head Amit Chakravarty on Monday moved the
Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court's refusal to interfere with their
arrest and police remand in a case lodged under the anti-terror law UAPA.
A
bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and
Manoj Misra took note of the submissions of senior lawyer Kapil Sibal,
appearing for Purkayastha and Chakravarty, that the matter needed urgent
hearing and asked him to circulate the case papers.
"This
is the NewsClick matter. The journalists are in police custody. Here one of the
accused is a 75-year old man, Sibal said.
The
CJI said he will take a call on the listing.
On
October 13, a Delhi High Court bench dismissed the plea against the arrest and
subsequent police remand of Purkayastha and Chakravarty in the case. Both were
arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police on October 3.
They
subsequently moved the high court challenging the arrest as well as the
seven-day police custody and sought immediate release as interim relief.
On
October 10, the trial court sent them to judicial custody for 10 days.
A
case has been lodged against the two under anti-terror law Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act (UAPA) for allegedly receiving money to spread pro-China
propaganda.
According
to the FIR, a large amount of funds to the news portal allegedly came from
China to "disrupt the sovereignty of India" and cause disaffection
against the country.
It
also alleged that Purkayastha conspired with a group -- People's Alliance for
Democracy and Secularism (PADS) -- to sabotage the electoral process during the
2019 Lok Sabha polls.