The Narendra Modi Government’s decision to freeze the accounts of the news portal NewsClick through the actions of the Income Tax Department is nothing but the continuation of the organized attack by the central agencies on this leading news portal to make it dysfunctional before the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.The latest IT action has led to the blocking of the payments made by the NC leading to acute embarrassment to this organization which is known for its prompt payments to its consultants and contributors.
NewsClick has always complied with the laws of the land, including all tax regulations. The claims levelled by the Income Tax Department have been challenged. There are normal rules which have been totally violated by this drastic action in suddenly freezing the accounts just before the year-end festival season is starting.
Earlier. the raids by the Delhi police on the staff of the NewsClick news portal and subsequent arrest of the founder editor Prabir Purkayastha and HR head Amit Chakraborty on October 3 signalled the arrival of an era when all norms of democracy and press freedom were violated to achieve the objective of the ruling establishment to curb dissent.
The NewsClick case shows how the central government agencies can convert a pending case in Delhi High Court on money laundering under PMLA rule into a case of conspiracy and terrorism under the draconian UAPA once it appeared that the allegations under PMLA might not be proved in the Court. This conversion is a dangerous development and this hurts at the very root of the current judicial system.
The fact is that the enforcement directorate (ED) has made allegations of money laundering under PMLA rules against the portal NewsClick and its founder editor Prabir Purkayastha and the case of ED is being heard in Delhi High Court since 2021. So far the hearings have not proved that NC violated the foreign funds laws. NC says that the RBI has found no violation and NC management has full faith in the judgment of the court. Without waiting for the judgment of the Delhi High Court, not ED, but Delhi police struck against the portal staff under a FIR lodged in August this year under UAPA. Nobody knew about this FIR till October 3. Now the case is not of money laundering, but under clauses of terrorism and conspiracy.
The ED has every right to take action under the PMLA rules against NC if they could prove in the court the violations of the official rules including the RBI guidelines, but they did not wait for the verdict since it was becoming apparent that the transactions were made as per existing laws of the country. The Government agencies could not therefore wait for the hearing to be completed, the task of teaching lessons to a prodigal portal was passed over to the Home Ministry from the Finance Ministry which controls ED officially.
Since October 3, NC Editor Prabir Purakayastha and the HR head Amit Chakraborty are in jail, all bail applications till now have been rejected. The Supreme Court which agreed to hear the petition against the arrest postponed the hearing till the early New Year. The learned judges refused to take cognizance of the seriousness of the issue since time was very crucial in this case. The IT department got involved after the ED and the CBI did their jobs in collusion. The objective of the ruling regime at the centre is to cripple the operations of this news portal from all directions..
The Constitution makers have talked of four pillars of our democracy- legislature, executive, judiciary and media. Media is the fourth pillar and all those who believe in democracy feel that each pillar will complement the others to make India a vibrant democracy. This is the time when certainly, media can look to the other pillar judiciary to see whether the executive is functioning to strengthen the democracy or to subvert that.
The letter sent by 18 media organisations of the country to the Chief Justice of India Dr. D Y Chandrachud soon after the arrests is very relevant in this context. The CJI has always been a supporter for strengthening the fourth pillar of the Constitution. It was the CJI who said ‘ the press has a duty to speak truth to power and resent citizens with hard facts enabling them to make choices that propel democracy in the right direction and that India’s freedom will be safe as long as journalists can play this role without being chilled by a threat of reprisal.’
Dr Chandrachud, is absolutely right in underlining what the duties of a free press should be. . The voices of ruling establishment don’t allow the press to speak truth to power as he wants. They get panicky when the journalists play their role without being chilled by a threat of reprisal. The ruling government and the party BJP want embedded media which the CJI does not want. The journalists under attack on October 3 and 4 have been following the same principles which the CJI has been advocating.
The World Press Freedom Index ranks India at 161, in the bottom twenty of the 180 countries whose status it assesses. The fall has been immense and sharp since 2015. India is also the global internet shutdown capital, with by far the highest number of internet closures per year amongst all democracies.
India has displayed record democratic backsliding, and the state of the press is a vital component of the deterioration. Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks of India as a mother of democracy but in his rule of nearly a decade, the backsliding has accentuated. The Supreme Court under the CJI can rise to the occasion and play a historic role in reverting the present process and restore the vision on the press freedom which the Constitution makers held.
Already, it is too late, but still the media expects that the apex court as the custodian of the four pillars of democracy will take up on priority the issues involved in the NC petition and stand by the ethics so dear to the CJI. Let the New Year begin with an intervention by the Supreme Court in the interests of media freedom. (IPA Service)
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