NEW DELHI: NewsClick human resources department chief Amit Chakraborty has moved a Delhi court seeking bail in a case registered under the anti-terror law UAPA which is allegedly connected to the "spreading" of pro-China propaganda by the news portal.
The website's founder Prabir Purkayastha also moved a court seeking the release of his electronic devices seized by police in the case.
Special Judge Hardeep Kaur on Friday granted time to Delhi Police till November 4 to file a reply on Chakravarty's bail application and till October 31 to reply on Purkayastha's application.
Both applications were filed on October 25.
The Delhi Police special cell arrested Purkayastha and Chakraborty on October 3 and remanded to seven days of police custody on October 4. Later, they were sent to judicial custody on October 10 for ten days which was extended to five more days and expired on October 25.
Further, they were remanded to police's custody which is ongoing till November 2.
In the previous hearing, Purkayastha's counsel Advocate Arshdeep Singh Khurana argued that police need to show what the new thing they need to discover, saying all they want to do in police custody can be done in judicial custody itself.
Prior to that, he also had asked how his client as a journalist doing a critical or impartial act of journalism about the government can become any of the unlawful activities.
APP had also argued that the case was at a stage when evidence was still being collected, and the prosecution had sought judicial custody for the accused in all ''fairness''.
Chakraborty's counsel submitted that his client is only an HR head and not involved in the publication of any news on the website.
The counsel argued that all the journalistic works of his client are in the public domain.
He submitted that there is no allegation that they "used bombs, dynamite or any other explosive substance," as there is a requirement of a 'terrorist act' under 16, 17 and 18 of the UAPA act.
Khurana also argued that not a penny has come from China as funds as the police claimed while terming the FIR as "absurd."
''There is no such allegation that there is a map of India, published by NewsClick, that shows India without Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh,'' he said.
On the other hand, Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) Atul Srivastava opposed the argument saying the accused persons were not merely criticising the government but propagating the propaganda of a country that is inimical to us.
