The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it felt “no hesitation” to declare the arrest and remand of 74-year-old journalist and online portal NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) by the Delhi Police as “invalid in the eyes of law”, requiring his release from custody.
A Bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Sandeep Mehta said neither Purkayastha nor his designated counsel were provided the grounds of his arrest in writing. “The right to be informed about the grounds of arrest flows from Article 22(1) (an arrested person shall be informed of the grounds of arrest and allowed to consult a lawyer of his or her choice) of the Constitution and any infringement of this fundamental right would vitiate the process of arrest and remand,” Justice Mehta, who authored the judgment, held.
The mere fact that a chargesheet was filed in the case would not validate the illegality committed at the time of arrest and initial remand to police custody.
The apex court held that the rule to communicate the grounds in writing would extend equally in the case of detentions. Justice Mehta said, like arrests, the grounds of detention should also be communicated in writing to a detainee. Any lapse would be a violation of Article 22(5) of the Constitution, which mandates that a person under detention should be communicated the grounds of the detention order and allowed to make a representation against the detention at the earliest opportunity.
Communication of grounds of arrest or detention in writing by the investigating agency or police was “sacrosanct and cannot be breached under any situation”.
“Non-compliance of this constitutional requirement and statutory mandate would lead to the custody or the detention being rendered illegal,” the Supreme Court declared. Providing arrested persons or their lawyers the written grounds of arrest was made mandatory under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act by the Supreme Court in its Pankaj Bansal case judgment in 2023. The court has extended the same rule to UAPA cases through the current verdict in Purkayastha’s case.
Purkayastha, who has been incarcerated for over six months, was accused of using Chinese funding to promote “anti-national propaganda” through digital media. Multiple journalist collectives had termed the raids at the homes of 46 journalists, editors, writers and professionals connected to NewsClick and seizure of their electronic devices, culminating in the arrest of its founder under the UAPA, as “especially chilling”.
Mr. Purkayastha was arrested by the Delhi Police Special Cell on October 3, 2023 on the basis of a First Information Report (FIR) registered on August 17, 2023. The copy of the FIR was not uploaded in the public domain. Purkayastha’s request to provide him a copy was ignored by the police.
He was given a copy of the FIR only after he was remanded to police custody by a Sessions Judge at 6 a.m. on October 4, 2023. The senior journalist’s lawyer, advocate Arshdeep Khurana, was informed about the grounds of arrest on October 5, that is, 24 hours after his client was remanded to police custody.
Justice Mehta said there was no “rhyme or reason” for not sending the remand application to Khurana ahead of the early morning court hearing on October 4. Purkayastha was represented by a legal aid lawyer at the remand hearing. The police team chose to inform Khurana through WhatsApp about the remand order, that too an hour after the hearing.
In short, the Supreme Court concluded that Purkayastha was left heavily handicapped when his personal liberty was hanging by a thread on October 4 morning.
“This entire exercise was done in a clandestine manner and was nothing but a blatant attempt to circumvent the due process of law; to confine the accused to police custody without informing him the grounds on which he has been arrested; deprive the accused of the opportunity to avail the services of the legal practitioner of his choice so as to oppose the prayer for police custody remand, seek bail and also to mislead the court,” Justice Mehta concluded in a scathing judgment.
Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, for the Delhi Police, had argued that Purkayastha was “orally” informed about the grounds of his arrest.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, for Purkayastha, had countered that the power to arrest was not a discretionary one. “It should be supported by solid reasons. After all, a person’s liberty was taken away,” he had submitted.
Agreeing with Sibal, the Bench quashed the journalist’s arrest, the subsequent orders of the trial court remanding him, and set aside an October 13, 2023 order of the Delhi High Court upholding the journalist’s incarceration.
However, the court said Purkayastha should furnish bail bonds for his release as a chargesheet had already been filed in the trial court by the police in the case.
“Though we would have been persuaded to direct the release of the appellant without requiring him to furnish bonds or security, a chargesheet has been filed. We feel it appropriate to direct the appellant to be released from custody on his furnishing bail bonds to the trial court,” the Supreme Court directed. The court said its judgment was not a comment on the merits of the case against Purkayastha.
Probe agencies must give written grounds of arrest in UAPA cases, SC declares in NewsClick judgment
The Supreme Court on May 15 held that the right to life and personal liberty is the most sacrosanct of fundamental rights while declaring that investigating agencies should provide people arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) with a written copy of information specifying the grounds of their arrest.
A Bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Sandeep Mehta applied its earlier judgment in the Pankaj Bansal case — which had held that an arrested person should be informed of the grounds of arrest under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) — to UAPA cases.
“The purpose of informing to the arrested person the grounds of arrest is salutary and sacrosanct inasmuch as, this information would be the only effective means for the arrested person to consult his advocate; oppose the police custody remand and to seek bail. Any other interpretation would [be] tantamount to diluting the sanctity of the fundamental right guaranteed under Article 22(1) of the Constitution. The Right to Life and Personal Liberty is the most sacrosanct fundamental right,” the court held in the Prabir Purkayastha case judgment on Wednesday.
Justice Mehta, who authored the judgment, said that they found no significant difference in the language employed in Section 19(1) of the PMLA and Section 43B(1) of the UAPA. The provisions in both Acts deal with the power and procedure of arrest.
The court interpreted the common phrase, “inform him [the arrested person] of the grounds for such arrest”, in Section 19(1) and Section 43B(1) of the two Acts, to mean that the communication should be in writing.
The Union government had objected to the idea of extending the ambit of the Pankaj Bansal judgment to UAPA cases. Additional Solicitor-General S.V. Raju had argued that the Pankaj Bansal judgment, pronounced in October last year, dealt only with arrests under the PMLA and not the UAPA.
However, Justice Mehta, in the judgment, dismissed the Centre’s contention. “We have no hesitation in holding that the interpretation of statutory mandate laid down by this court in the case of Pankaj Bansal on the aspect of informing the arrested person the grounds of arrest in writing has to be applied pari passu (on an equal footing) to a person arrested in a case registered under the provisions of the UAPA,” Justice Mehta observed.
The court said that at a very basic level, it was true justice and fair play to inform an arrested person, to give him or her a copy of the grounds which had resulted in the arrest.
“Any person arrested for allegation of commission of offences under the provisions of UAPA or for that matter any other offence(s) has a fundamental and a statutory right to be informed about the grounds of arrest in writing. A copy of such written grounds of arrest have to be furnished to the arrested person as a matter of course and without exception at the earliest,” the Supreme Court said, laying down the law.
Supreme Court slams Uttarakhand’s approach in controlling forest fires, summons State’s Chief Secretary on May 17
Coming down hard on the Uttarakhand government, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday it was at pains to say that the State’s approach in controlling forest fires was “lackadaisical”.
A Bench headed by Justice B.R. Gavai directed the Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand to be present personally before it on May 17. The Bench, also comprising Justices S.V.N. Bhatti and Sandeep Mehta, observed that though multiple action plans are prepared, no steps are taken for their implementation.
The apex court also flagged the issue of huge vacancy in the forest department of the State and said the issue needs to be addressed. The top court was hearing a plea on raging forest fires in Uttarakhand.
Slovakia’s PM Robert Fico injured in shooting, in life-threatening condition
Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico is in life-threatening condition after being wounded in a shooting after a political event on May 15 afternoon, according to his Facebook profile.
Reports on TA3, a Slovakian TV station, said that Fico, 59, was hit in the stomach after four shots were fired outside the House of Culture in the town of Handlova, some 150km northeast of the capital, where the leader was meeting with supporters. A suspect has been detained, it said.
A message posted to Fico’s Facebook account said that the leader “has been shot multiple times and is currently in life-threatening condition. At this moment he is transported by helicopter to Banská Bystrica, because it would take too long to get to Bratislava due to the necessity of an acute procedure. The next few hours will decide.”
The shooting in Slovakia comes three weeks ahead of crucial European Parliament elections, in which populist and hard-right parties in the 27-nation bloc appear poised to make gains.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Lubos Blaha confirmed the incident during a session of Slovakia’s Parliament and adjourned it until further notice, the Slovak TASR news agency said.
Slovakia’s major opposition parties, Progressive Slovakia and Freedom and Solidarity, cancelled a planned protest against a controversial government plan to overhaul public broadcasting that they say would give the government full control of public radio and television.
“We absolutely and strongly condemn violence and today’s shooting of Premier Robert Fico,” said Progressive Slovakia leader Michal Simecka. “At the same time we call on all politicians to refrain from any expressions and steps which could contribute to further increasing the tension.”
Autorickshaw fare is more than airline fare, says HC while refusing capping of airfares
Observing that the airline industry is “very very competitive” and the players are running “huge losses”, the Delhi High Court on May 15 said it would not be appropriate to pass any directions for the capping of airfares across the country.
“Market forces will decide the pricing of tickets. The industry is doing very well today. You look at any airline flying today, it is a highly competitive industry. An auto rickshaw fare is more than the airline fare today,” a bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet P.S. Arora said.
The court disposed of two petitions seeking regulation of the pricing of flight tickets and said it would pass a detailed order. “Today the industry is very, very competitive. You will find those who are running airlines are into huge losses,” the bench said, adding huge investment is coming in this sector. “Let’s not make it more regulated,” the bench said. “It is a well-controlled sector. Every industry which is doing well need not be tampered with,” the bench said.
It said stray incidents would not require the court to entertain public interest litigations (PIL) on the issue and bring the entire sector under any new regulation. The two PILs were filed by advocate Amit Sahni and consumer rights activist Bejon Misra, through lawyer Shashank Deo Sudhi.
The petitioners urged the court to pass directions to cap airfares across the country so that customers are not “fleeced arbitrarily” by airlines. The counsel for the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) opposed the plea and submitted that the airfares depend on the routes as well as the availability of planes and sometimes there are very few passengers in the aircraft and yet they fly.
Poll roundup:
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 15 accused the Congress of wanting to allocate 15% of the Central Government budget for minorities and vowed not to allow splitting of budget or reservation in jobs and education on the basis of religion. The Congress, when in power at the Centre between 2004 and 2014, had planned to spend 15% of the budget on minorities which is its “favourite vote-bank”, but gave up the proposal due to the BJP’s stiff opposition though it has not entirely abandoned the idea, he said.
- The Election Commission of India (ECI) has ordered the Director General of Police Harish Kumar Gupta to arrest all the accused persons involved in the post poll violence in Andhra Pradesh and put them behind bars without any delay. The violence happened in the State during and after the polling and has continued on the third day on May 15. The ECI has ordered the DGP to place all the concerned political leaders and contesting candidates under house arrest and then lodge FIRs. More particularly, the ECI is serious about the incidents that happened at Tadipatri, Macherla, Chilakaluripet and Chandragiri Assembly Constituencies, after the elections were completed, informed Mukesh Kumar Meena, Chief Electoral Officer.
In Brief:
A Delhi court on Wednesday extended the judicial custody of AAP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia till May 30 in a corruption case related to an alleged excise scam. Special judge for CBI and ED Kaveri Baweja also fixed May 30 for further arguments on framing of charges in the case. The judge noted that an application for postponement of arguments on the charge is pending before the high court. Sisodia and other accused persons in custody were produced before the court through video-conferencing from prison. The court had on April 30 dismissed the bail pleas of Sisodia in corruption and money laundering cases, lodged by the CBI and the ED in relation to the alleged scam.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
