New Delhi [India]: Delhi Police is conducting raids at different premises linked to NewsClick under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and other sections, sources said.
Meanwhile, Delhi Police Special Cell Assistant Commissioner of Police Lalit Mohan Negi reached the NewsClick office in the national capital.
On Tuesday morning the Delhi Police sent their Special Cell teams to different premises at 30 locations linked to the organisation.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Gurdeep Singh Sappal reacted to the raids and said that the crackdown on media and journalists is not just a matter of instant causation but it is an expression of the political philosophy of BJP/RSS.
"Crackdown on Journalists by Delhi Police: Yesterday was Gandhi Jayanti. In 1931, Mahatma Gandhi guided Jawaharlal Nehru in drafting the Karachi Resolution on Fundamental Rights in independent India," Sappal posted on X (Formerly Twitter).
Recalling the first Fundamental Right promised to the citizens of India, he said, “Every citizen of India has the right of free expression of opinion, the rights of free association and combination, and the right to assemble peacefully and without arms, for purposes not opposed to law or morality.”
"This resolution was placed just six days after the execution of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru. Executed for what? Because they wanted their voice to be heard, and their opinion to be expressed. But their voices fell on deaf imperial government. So they threw a bomb in the Assembly, surrendered, didn’t contest their punishment and used the trial to send their message to the People of India," he posted.
He further added that "Karachi resolution’s first Fundamental Right promised to the people of India that their Supreme Sacrifice would not go to waste. Independent India will have freedom of expression."
"RSS was also formed by then. But never during the independence struggle did they promise Freedom of Expression and Association. There is not a single statement by their leaders, not a single resolution, not a single write-up in support of freedom of expression. RSS never stood for freedom of expression. Naturally, BJP never really believed in freedom of speech. It only paid a lip-service to it, though it enjoyed the freedom to serve its own political goals," he added.
Congress leader further said, "So the crackdown on media and journalists is not just a matter of instant causation. It is an expression of the political philosophy of BJP/RSS, it represents the India they want to create surreptitiously."
He further said that mere condemnation of the crackdown on journalists is not enough.
"Stand up to save India which was promised by the Independence Movement, crafted by the Constitution of India… by voting BJP out," he added.
Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti further alleged that during the raids telephone devices were forcibly snatched only for a fishing expedition.
"GOI claims India is the mother of democracy and about press freedom abroad yet in the same breath uses state agencies to crackdown on the remaining handful of independent media outlets. Even telephone devices have been forcibly snatched only for a fishing expedition. The repeated illegal pattern of arrest first & creating fake charges later is extremely perturbing," Mufti posted on X.
The agency, in February 2021, raided the premises of NewsClick and the residences of its editors in connection with a case of alleged money laundering and conducted search and seizure operations. Its case related to alleged foreign funding is based on an FIR registered by Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing.
—ANI