Newsclick Row: Court sends notice to police on plea for copy of FIR

A city court on Wednesday issued notice to the Delhi police on a plea filed by NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and HR head Amit Chakravarty, arrested in a case lodged under anti-terror law UAPA following allegations about the news portal having received money for pro-China propaganda, seeking a copy of the FIR.

Additional Sessions Judge Hardeep Kaur directed police to file its response by tomorrow when the court will hear arguments on the application.

The court, meanwhile, agreed to hand over a copy of the remand application, filed by police, to Advocate Arshdeep Singh Khurana, the counsel for the accused.

Khurana requested the court for the copy of the FIR so he could move the Delhi High Court for legal remedies available to the accused.

The court also allowed the counsel to meet the accused for one hour daily during the remand period.

The judge posted the matter for tomorrow, after the city police submitted its Special Public Prosecutor was not present to argue the matter.

Purkayastha and Chakravarty were remanded in police custody for seven days after they were produced at the judge's residence, officials said.

Police had on Tuesday searched more than 30 locations, questioned several journalists in connection with the case, and arrested Purkayastha and Chakravarty.

Police sealed NewsClick's office in Delhi on Tuesday. Officials said 46 "suspects" were questioned and digital devices, including laptops and mobile phones, and documents were taken away for examination.

Among those questioned were journalists Urmilesh, Aunindyo Chakravarty, Abhisar Sharma, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta as well as historian Sohail Hashmi, satirist Sanjay Rajoura and D Raghunandan of the Centre for Technology & Development.

After being questioned for over six hours, they were allowed to go.