The Delhi Police Tuesday carried out early morning raids at about 35 locations including journalists’ homes and premises of news portal NewsClick. Two journalists -- Newsclick editor Prabir Purkayastha and Amit Chakravarty -- have been arrested after their questioning by Delhi Police Special Cell. No FIR was made available to them.
According to journalists who were taken for questioning, an FIR under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and various sections of the IPC had been registered. However, contents of this FIR were not made available either publicly or to the journalists taken for questioning.
The raids were conducted at different location including homes of journalists and writers Abhisar Sharma, Bhasha Singh, Urmilesh, Newsclick editor Prabir Purkayastha, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Githa Hariharan, Aunindyo Chakravarty, Anuradha Raman, activist historian Sohail Hashmi, and stand-up comic Sanjay Rajaura.
Delhi police sources said that 37 male and 9 women suspects were questioned in the case but charges against them have not been made public. The police took away mobile phones, lap tops and other documents after the raids from houses of journalists and others.
“Nine police personnel came to my home in Gurugram at 6:30 in the morning. They asked me various questions. I came with them voluntarily to the Special Cell of the Delhi Police. The same set of questions were asked over and over again, if I am an employee of Newsclick, I said ‘No, I’m a consultant’...After I came here I learnt that an FIR has been lodged apparently under the Unlawful Activities Preventions Act...,” said Thakurta, who was working as a consultant with NewsClick.
NewsClick was under the scanner of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) which had alleged that the news portal had received nearly ₹38 crore from entities suspected to have links to China.
Journalists protest
A protest meeting was organised by different journalists unions and individual journalists at the Press Club of India in the afternoon to express “deep concern” at the targeting of independent journalists.
“We believe that this is yet another attempt by the Centre to muzzle the freedom of press. Such an action, raiding and intimidating almost all the employees in a media organisation, is unheard of. The Newsclick management has been maintaining that whatever funding they have received was through legal sources and evidences for this have been submitted in the High Court of Delhi,” said a statement issued by National Alliance of Journalists and Delhi Union of Journalists.