The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
CPI(M) Welcomes Delhi High Court Judgement on NewsClick
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) welcomes the Delhi High Court judgement quashing the FIR registered by the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police and the subsequent Enforcement Directorate case against Newsclick and its Editor-in-Chief, Prabir Purkayastha. The verdict is a stern warning against the misuse of government agencies for political vendetta.
At a time when the majority of the media houses in the country serve corporate-political interests, voices like NewsClick, that question those in power and the corporate houses backing them, have come under severe attack. It was their fearless reporting of people’s movements that resulted in the concocted charges that have now been quashed. NewsClick became a thorn in the side of the BJP-led Union government when it relentlessly covered the year-long farmers’ struggle, with news, analysis, and videos on the subject. This led to an intensified attack on the news portal as well as the imposition of the draconian UAPA on and imprisonment of Purkayastha for a long time.
Right from the outset, it was clear that the action against NewsClick and Purkayastha by agencies under the Union government was nothing but a plot to target critical journalism and suppress dissent. Therefore, the verdict is a victory for the freedom of press as well as democratic rights of citizens.
In light of the Delhi High Court verdict, which categorically stated that the ED case against NewsClick was “a gross abuse of the process of law”, CPI(M) demands that the Union government and the agencies under it quash all the other cases that have been foisted by them on NewsClick and Prabir Purkayastha.