New Delhi, 17 May 2024: The Indian Journalists Union welcomes the release of founding editor of NewsClick Prabir Purkayastha languishing in jail since October last, by the Supreme Court on Wednesday by declaring his arrest by Special Cell of Delhi Police as ‘invalid’ and ‘quashed and set aside.

Purkayastha was arrested on October 3 last year under UAPA for allegedly spreading Chinese propaganda and the FIR said the news portal allegedly received huge amount of funds from China to “disrupt the sovereignty of India” and cause disaffection against the country.  

Observing that the right to life and personal liberty was “most sacrosanct” fundamental right guaranteed under Constitution’s Articles 20, 21 and 22, the top court said any person arrested over allegations of commission of offences under UAPA or other offences has a fundamental and a statutory right to be informed about the grounds of arrest in writing, as a “matter of course and without exception at the earliest”. And in this case the copy of the remand application was “not provided to the accused appellant…or his counsel before passing of the order of remand dated October 4, 2023, which vitiates the arrest and subsequent remand of the appellant,” the bench said. The ASJ directed Purkayastha to submit a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and two sureties of like amount in the case lodged under the anti-terror law. 

In a statement, IJU President and former member of Press Council of India Geetartha Pathak and IJU Secretary General and Vice President of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Sabina Inderjit said the SC quashing the arrest should be seen as a warning by the police and authorities not to misuse the law, which they are increasingly doing. More importantly they must respect the rule of law, fundamental rights of citizens and the right to freedom of speech and expression.