New Delhi: NewsClick Wednesday alleged in the Delhi High Court that investigating agencies were abusing the process of law to subject it to criminal prosecution to create a "chilling effect". The court was hearing petitions by the news portal for quashing the cases of the Delhi Police and
"I am being targeted because I happen to be an entity engaged in news circulation on digital platform," said senior advocate Siddharth Agarwal, representing the petitioner, before Justice Saurabh Banerjee. "We have reached a place where criminal law is used as a weapon of choice for chilling effect. There is nothing here that needs to be investigated," argued the senior lawyer.
The criminal cases, he added, were intended to "silence" independent and impartial reporting, discourage journalists and "create a chilling effect". PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt Ltd, which owns NewsClick, had moved the high court in 2021 seeking quashing of the criminal cases against the portal over allegations of violation of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) law.
Agarwal submitted that foreign funds came into the company legitimately and in due compliance with the applicable law and the offences of criminal breach of trust and cheating under the Indian Penal Code, as alleged, were not made out. "The court will have to consider...if there is an abuse of process by the investigating or prosecuting agencies. There is a context to the matter," he stated.
On Tuesday, senior advocate Kapil Sibal had argued on behalf of the petitioner and said that the case against it was "completely dishonest". The allegation in the FIR, registered by the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police, is that the company, PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt Ltd, received FDI to the tune of Rs 9.59 crore from M/s Worldwide Media Holdings LLC USA during the financial year 2018-19 in violation of the law.
