NEW DELHI: A
Delhi court
took cognisance on Tuesday of the
chargesheet
filed against news portal
NewsClick
and its founder-editor,
Prabir Purkayastha
, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA.
Additional sessions judge (ASJ) Hardeep Kaur’s court took cognisance of the chargesheet and listed the matter for arguments on charge and scrutiny of documents on May 31.
Special public prosecutors (SPP) Akhand
Pratap Singh
and
Suraj
Rathi, appearing for the police, submitted that the chargesheet has been filed based on documentary evidence retrieved during investigation, statements given by witnesses, and the statement of
Amit
Chakravarty (the company’s HR head) who turned approver.
SPP Singh also told the court that there are eight protected witnesses in the case and that all the rights of the accused will be protected by the court. Purkayastha, who was present in court, responding to this, said, “By the court, yes. By you, no.”
The SPP said also that the investigation related to others whose names are in the FIR and whose names surfaced later was still on.
On April 16, Delhi police’s special cell had submitted in court that it had obtained all requisite sanctions under UAPA Section 45 (no cognisance of unlawful activities and membership of unlawful organisation and their funding without previous sanction from central govt) and CrPC Sec 196 for prosecution of the accused in the case.
