The Supreme Court bench, consisting of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta, has raised concerns about the Delhi Police Special Cell’s handling of the arrest of NewsClick editor Prabir Purkayastha. The court questioned why Purkayastha’s lawyer was not informed before his production before the magistrate. The bench expressed surprise at the haste in producing him at 6 am, stating there was ample time to bring him later.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Purkayastha, argued that his client’s arrest was illegal as he was not provided with grounds for the arrest. Sibal highlighted that Purkayastha had been produced before the trial court at 6 am without his lawyer being present, and instead, a remand lawyer represented him.
The court was informed that the remand order had been passed at 6 am, and the remand application was sent to Purkayastha’s lawyer through WhatsApp more than an hour later. The court emphasized that grounds for arrest must be communicated to the accused before a remand order is passed to ensure fairness.
The Supreme Court reserved its orders on Purkayastha’s plea challenging his arrest and remand in a case related to alleged Chinese funding for “anti-national propaganda” on the NewsClick platform. Purkayastha has been in custody since October 3, 2024.
