Supreme Court adjourns NewsClick case to October 19; indicates it may issue notice to the police

The case had reached the top court after the Delhi High Court refused to interfere with the arrest and subsequent police remand of Mr. Purkayastha and Mr. Chakraborty

A Supreme Court Bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and P.K. Mishra on October 18 adjourned petitions challenging the arrest and remand of NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and Human Resources head Amit Chakraborty to October 19. The pair were arrested by the Delhi Police under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) on October 3.

Justice Gavai, while posting the case for Thursday, orally indicated that notice would anyway have to be issued to the police in the case.

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Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Devadutt Kamat appeared for the petitioners. In an oral mentioning on Monday for an early listing of the case, Mr. SIbal had said that Mr. Purkayastha was over 70-years-old and was under remand for the past few days.

The case had reached the top court after the Delhi High Court refused to interfere with the arrest and subsequent police remand of Mr. Purkayastha and Mr. Chakraborty under the anti-terror law.

Mr. Purkayastha and Mr. Chakraborty were arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police on October 3 pursuant to an FIR registered on August 17, which named three accused: Mr. Purkayastha, activist Gautam Navlakha, who is under house arrest in another terror case, and U.S.-based businessman Neville Roy Singham.

The Newsclick duo had challenged their arrest in the High Court, saying that the grounds of arrest were not conveyed to them in writing either at the time of arrest or even till date. They had challenged the order of remand given by a Special Judge on October 4, saying it was passed in the absence of their lawyers.