In a major development, the Supreme Court on Wednesday (May 15) declared as illegal NewsClick founder and Editor-in-Chief Prabir Purkayastha’s arrest by the Delhi police and his remand in a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967. The Court noted that a copy of the remand application was not provided to Purkayastha or his counsel before passing the remand order on October 4, 2023. This meant that the grounds of the arrest were not supplied to him in writing. It was the case of
“There is no hesitation in the mind of the Court to reach to a conclusion that a copy of the remand application, in the purported exercise of the communication of the grounds of arrest in writing, was not provided to the accused-appellant or his counsel before the passing of the remand order dated 4th October, 2023, which vitiates the arrest and the subsequent remand of the appellant. As a result, the appellant is entitled to a direction for release from custody by applying the ration of the jud
The arrest and the remand were declared invalid in the eyes of law and were set aside. The Court therefore ordered the release of Prabir Purkayasatha. However, the Court ordered that the release will be subject to him furnishing the bail and bonds to the satisfaction of the trial Court, since chargesheet has been filed. A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta delivered the verdict, after having concluded arguments on April 30. It may be recalled that Purkayastha is in custody since October 2023…
Bhima Koregaon: Gautam Navlakha gets bail as Supreme Court lifts stay on Bombay HC order
Gautam Navlakha, accused in the Bhima Koregaon violence case of 2018, got bail on Tuesday after the Supreme Court lifted the stay on the Bombay High Court order granting bail to the activist. A Bench of Justices MM Sundresh and SVN Bhatti refrained from extending the stay as the High Court order was detailed and also because the trial would take years to complete.
“We are inclined to not extend the stay as High Court order is detailed in granting bail. Trial would take years and years and years for completion. Without going at length into contentions, we will not extend the stay,” the Court said….
*****************************************************
Gautam Bhatia on The Executive(’s) Court: Notes on the Legacy of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar
Father Stan Swamy To Posthumously Receive Human Rights Honorary Award At Geneva Today
Patricia Mukhim: Nagaland’s people deserve neither AFSPA nor gun culture
After the truth-shower 