Supreme Court questions ‘undue haste’ in producing NewsClick editor before the magistrate

The court posed the queries after senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Purkayastha, told the court that the arrest was illegal and a mala fide exercise of power

R. Balaji, TT, New Delhi, 01.05.24 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned the “undue haste” in producing arrested NewsClick founding editor Prabir Purkayastha before the magistrate without even informing his lawyers.

“Why did you not inform his lawyer or legal team? Why was this undue haste in producing him at 6am? You had the whole day. You arrested him at 5.45pm the previous day,” the bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Sandeep Mehta told additional solicitor-general S.V. Raju, appearing for Delhi police.

The court posed the queries after senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Purkayastha, told the court that the arrest was illegal and a mala fide exercise of power.

The court reserved its verdict on Purkayastha’s appeal challenging his arrest under the anti-terror law UAPA.

Purkayastha is lodged in Tihar jail following the massive raids conducted by Delhi police’s special cell in October last year after he was accused of indulging in anti-national and pro-China activities.

Sibal told the bench that Purkayastha was arrested on October 3, 2023, around 5.45pm and was produced before a judicial magistrate at 6am on October 4 for police remand without any prior intimation to his lawyers. When Purkayastha complained to the magistrate that his lawyers had not been informed about his remand, the investigating officer informed his lawyer through WhatsApp.

Justice Gavai, heading the bench, said principles of natural justice demanded that Purkayastha’s lawyer be present when the remand order was being passed.

The bench rejected Raju’s argument that the magistrate had erroneously recorded the timing as “6am”. The bench said it would strictly go by the judicial order and not oral submissions by the ASG.

Purkayastha and the company’s HR head, Amit Chakraborty, were arrested on October 3 last year after the special cell of Delhi police conducted raids on the news portal’s office and the residential premises of its top echelons for alleged anti-national activities.

The police had accused the news portal of receiving funds illegally from organisations like the People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism to sabotage the 2019 elections and also getting illegal funds to project Arunachal Pradesh and Kashmir as not being part of India.

The duo had filed the special leave petitions (SLPs) in the Supreme Court challenging the concurrent orders passed by a single judge of Delhi High Court on October 13 as well as an earlier order from a trial court that refused to quash their arrests and remand.