New Delhi : In the wake of Delhi police raid at residences of employees of the news portal on 3rd October, NewsClick cried foul on the randomness and senselessness of the targeted exercise. Several persons were questioned, and as of now, our Director . Prabir Purkayastha and one . Amit Chakraborty have been arrested, said NewsClick in a statement.
‘We have not been provided with a copy of the FIR, or informed about the exact particulars of the offences with which we have been charged. Electronic devices were seized from the NewsClick premises and homes of employees, without any adherence to due process such as the provision of seizure memos, hash values of the seized data, or even copies of the data. ‘ the statement read.
The Special Cell of Delhi Police also sealed Newsclick offices grounding the portal’s news activities to a halt. A case was registered against the news portal under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) accusing the firm of carrying Chinese propaganda on its website.
‘We strongly condemn these actions of a Government that refuses to respect journalistic independence, and treats criticism as sedition or “anti-national” propaganda,’ the NewsClick statement read.
Incidentally, NewsClick has been targeted by government agencies numerous times since 2021, including raids from Enforcement Directorate, the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police and the Income Tax Department, who collectively failed to find any wrongdoing each time.
According to NewsClick sources, all devices, laptops, gadgets, phones, etc. have been seized in the past. All emails and communications have been analysed under the microscope. All bank statements, invoices, expenses incurred, sources of funds received by Newsclick in the last several years have been scrutinised by different agencies of the Government from time to time. Various directors and other related persons have spent countless hours on several occasions being interrogated by these government agencies. Yet, in the last two plus years, the Enforcement Directorate has not been able to file a single complaint against Newsclick for its falsified claim of money laundering, the statement said.
The Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police was never able to find any offence on part of NewsClick under the Indian Penal Code(IPC). The Income Tax Department also was unable to defend its charges in the Courts of law.
No agency has even so much as summoned Prabir Purkayastha for any kind of questioning for the past several years. And a govt that failed to find any trace of wrongdoing pounced on a self-serving and bogus article published in New York Times to invoke the draconian UAPA and force shuttering of the fearless reporting medium that NewsClick is - one that lays bare the true picture of India, its peasant community, the labourers, farmers and other marginalized sections of the society, the statement read.
NewsClick also declared the following assertions in its statement :
‘We want to state for the record:
1. Newsclick is an independent news website.
2. Our journalistic content is based on highest standards of the profession.
3. Newsclick does not publish any news or information at the behest of any Chinese entity or authority, directly or indirectly.
4. Newsclick does not propagate Chinese propaganda on its website.
5. Newsclick does not take directions from Neville Roy Singham regarding the content published on its website.
6. All funding received by Newsclick has been through the appropriate banking channels and have been reported to the relevant authorities as required by law, as substantiated by the Reserve Bank of India in proceedings before the High Court of Delhi.
All journalistic content ever published on Newsclick website is available on the internet, and can be seen by anyone. The Special Cell of Delhi Police has not referred to a single article.’
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