Pankaj Bansal judgment on supply of written grounds of arrest applicable to UAPA cases too: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Wednesday held that the mandate under Pankaj Bansal v Union of India & Ors. judgment to supply written grounds of arrest to money laundering accused, will apply to cases under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) as well..The Court held the same while quashing the arrest and remand of Prabir Purkayastha, chief editor of online news portal NewsClick."We have no hesitation in holding that the interpretation of statutory mandate laid down by this Court in the case of Pankaj Bansal on the aspect of informing the arrested person the grounds of arrest in writing has to be applied pari passu to a person arrested in a case registered under the provisions of the UAPA," the Court said on Wednesday. In the Pankaj Bansal judgment passed in October last year, the apex court had ruled that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) must supply in writing the grounds of arrest to persons accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)..In the judgment in Purkayastha's case passed today, a bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta examined provisions regarding informing the accused of the grounds of arrest in both the statutes and found that there was no significant difference in the language employed."Upon a careful perusal of the statutory provisions(reproduced supra), we find that there is no significant difference in the language employed in Section 19(1) of the PMLA and Section 43B(1) of the UAPA which can persuade us to take a view that the interpretation of the phrase ‘inform him of the grounds for such arrest’ made by this Court in the case of Pankaj Bansal(supra) should not be applied to an accused arrested under the provisions of the UAPA," the Court said..Further, the Court noted that the modified application of Section 167 (procedure when investigation cannot be completed in twenty-four hours) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) is also common to both the statutes. Hence, it held that the interpretation of statutory mandate laid down by the Court in Pankaj Bansal about informing the arrested person the grounds of arrest in writing has to be applied pari passu (on equal footing) to a person arrested under UAPA..As a result, the Court held that any person arrested under UAPA or any other offence has a statutory right to be informed about the grounds of arrest in writing and a copy of written grounds must be furnished to the arrested person at the earliest."The purpose of informing to the arrested person the grounds of arrest is salutary and sacrosanct inasmuch as, this information would be the only effective means for the arrested person to consult his Advocate; oppose the police custody remand and to seek bail. Any other interpretation would tantamount to diluting the sanctity of the fundamental right guaranteed under Article 22(1) of the Constitution of India," the Court explained..Purkayastha was booked under the UAPA and arrested on October 3, 2023, following a series of raids conducted in the wake of allegations made in a New York Times article that NewsClick was being paid to boost Chinese propaganda.NewsClick HR head Amit Chakraborty was also arrested by the police in the same case. Chakraborty since turned an approver for the prosecution after which he was released by the Delhi High Court. Thus, he withdrew his plea before Supreme Court against the arrest.Purkayastha moved the Supreme Court challenging his arrest and remand after the Delhi High Court upheld the trial court's decision to remand him to police custody..Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal and Advocate Nitin Saluja appeared for the editor.Additional Solicitor General SV Raju with Advocates Zoheb Hossain and Kanu Agarwal appeared for the Delhi Police..[Read Judgment]