The Supreme Court on May 15 ordered the arrest and subsequent remand of NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha invalid and directed his release on furnishing of bail bonds.
A Bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Sandeep Mehta said the Mr. Purkayastha’s lawyer was informed of the grounds of arrest and about his remand by a Magistrate after the order of custody was passed. Mr. Purkayastha was charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
Mr. Purkayastha, incarcerated for over six months now, was accused of using Chinese funding to promote “anti-national propaganda” through the digital media.
The Delhi Police had named Mr. Purkayastha, activist Gautam Navlakha and U.S.-based businessman Neville Roy Singham in the case.
Justice Sandeep Mehta, who pronounced the judgment for the Bench, agreed with senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for the 74-year-old journalist, that this case falls squarely within the ambit of a recent Supreme Court judgment in the Pankaj Bansal case, which held that the Enforcement Directorate should provide an accused a written copy of the grounds of arrest and remand.
“The Delhi Police said the judgment covered a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case..This was a case under UAPA. Under the UAPA, you need to only ‘inform’ the grounds of arrest to the accused. It is with PMLA that grounds have to be given in writing… But should I not get the grounds in writing to go to the Magistrate to ask for bail? The police cannot say it has the grounds but will withhold them from me,” Mr. Sibal had argued
Justice Mehta said that since Mr. Purkayastha’s arrest and remand was found to be invalid, he should be released from custody. However, as a chargesheet has already been filed, he ought to furnish bail bonds to the trial court concerned at the time of release.