The
Supreme Court on Wednesday sought response of the Delhi Police on pleas of
NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and its HR head Amit Chakravarty against
their arrest under anti-terror law UAPA.
A
bench of Justices BR Gavai and Prashant Kumar Mishra issued notice to the Delhi
Police and sought its response by October 30 after senior advocates Kapil Sibal
and Devadatt Kamat, appearing for Purkayastha and Chakravarty, respectively,
said they are in jail and the pleas be heard early.
On October
16, the top court agreed to list the matter urgently after Sibal mentioned it
before the bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud.
The
CJI had asked Sibal to circulate the case papers and said he would take a call
on urgent listing of the matter.
The
Delhi High Court had on October 13 dismissed their pleas against arrest and
subsequent police remand 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.
The
court, however, refused to grant them relief, saying there was no procedural
infirmity or violation of the provisions of the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act in arresting them.
The
trial court had on October 10 sent them to judicial custody for 10 days.
The
city police has lodged cases 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.