Police in India have arrested the founder of independent news portal NewsClick after raiding the homes of dozens of journalists and staff on Oct. 3 amid allegations that the company received funding from communist China.
“The same set of questions were asked over and over again, if I am an employee of NewsClick. I said ‘No, I’m a consultant.’”
Police have arrested Prabir Purkayastha, founder and editor-in-chief of NewsClick, and chief of human resources Amit Chakravarthy under an anti-terrorism law. Authorities also sealed the company’s office.
The raids came after authorities brought a case against NewsClick on Aug. 17 over a New York Times report alleging the online news portal had received funds from an American millionaire who funded the spread of “Chinese propaganda.”
“What we have been able to gather is that NewsClick stands accused of offenses under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for purportedly carrying Chinese propaganda on its website,” it stated.
“We strongly condemn these actions of a Government that refuses to respect journalistic independence and treats criticism as sedition or ‘anti-national’ propaganda.”
US Declines to Comment
The United States has acknowledged reports about NewsClick’s alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), but it can’t comment on the veracity of those claims, according to a U.S. official.State Department principal deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said that Washington “strongly supports the robust role of media globally” and has raised concerns on these matters with the Indian government.
India’s Press Freedom in ‘Downward Spiral’
Media watchdogs, including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), denounced the arrests and raids and said that they were part of an intensifying crackdown on independent media under Mr. Modi.The Indian digital news foundation Digipub has strongly condemned the raids and stated that they have taken “the government’s pattern of arbitrary and intimidatory behavior to a whole other level.”
Lawyers have been denied access to communicate with the detainees and haven’t received any information as to the reason for the detention, according to Digipub.
“While the investigating agencies do their job, and until they can prove any specific allegations, Digipub calls for fairness and civility in the discourse about the case,” the organization stated.
The Editors Guild of India said it was “deeply concerned” that the raids were “yet another attempt to muzzle the media” and urged the Indian government to follow due process.
India’s anti-terrorism law has stringent bail requirements, and individuals often spend months, and sometimes years, in custody without being found guilty. Successive Indian governments have invoked the law, but it has been used frequently in recent years.
Reporters Without Borders, an advocacy group for journalists, ranked India 161st in its press freedom rankings this year, stating that the situation has deteriorated from “problematic” to “very bad.”
Some independent Indian think tanks and international groups, such as Amnesty International and Oxfam India, also have been raided and had their access to funding blocked in recent years.