The Supreme Court ordered the release of NewsClick founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha in the UAPA case on Wednesday, May 15. The apex court stated that his arrest and remand were illegal.
The court noticed that a copy of the remand application was not provided to the appellant or his counsel before passing the remand order on October 4, 2023. Therefore, the Court held that the arrest and the remand were vitiated.
The bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta delivered the verdict after having concluded arguments on April 30.
The arrest and the remand were declared invalid in the eyes of the law and set aside. The Court, therefore, ordered Prabir Purkayasatha's release. However, since a chargesheet had been filed, the release would be subject to his furnishing the bail and bonds to the satisfaction of the trial Court.
According to the FIR, the news portal allegedly received huge funds from China to "disrupt the sovereignty of India" and cause disaffection against the country.
It also alleged that Purkayastha conspired with a group -- People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) -- to sabotage the electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
"Supreme Court has held the arrest and the remand proceedings to be illegal and has directed the release of Purkayastha. We have been directed to furnish the bail bond before the trial court. This is a major and big relief because we have been maintaining from the beginning that the entire proceedings against him were illegal and the manner of arrest was illegal which has now been upheld by the Supreme Court," Advocate Arshdeep Khurana said.