Raid on an Indian news website over allegations of funding from China

 Raid on an Indian news website over allegations of funding from China

The houses of numerous well-known journalists and authors were raided by police in Delhi, the capital of India, as part of a probe into the funding of the news website NewsClick.

Mobile phones and laptops belonging to those the police searched on Tuesday morning have been seized.

Authorities are apparently looking into claims that NewsClick obtained unlawful funding from China, a claim the company vigorously refutes.

Critics claim that the action intentionally violates journalistic freedom.

An independent news and current affairs website called NewsClick was founded in 2009 and is well known for being critical of the government. It was allegedly violating India's regulations on foreign direct investment when tax authorities raided it in 2021.

One of the biggest and most thorough raids on India's media in recent years was the coordinated one on Tuesday that took place at 30 different places. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government's "fresh attack on the media" is what the opposition leaders have dubbed it.

Anurag Thakur, the minister of information and broadcasting, refuted any government participation, claiming that the investigation agencies were only carrying out their legitimate duties.

How were the raids carried out?

Editor of NewsClick Prabir Purkayastha, reporters Abhisar Sharma, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Aunindyo Chakravarty, and Bhasha Singh, as well as renowned comedian Sanjay Rajoura and historian Sohail Hashmi, were among those searched. For questioning, several were brought to police stations.

According to news outlet ANI, searches were also being conducted at the website's office in Delhi.

Teesta Setalvad, an activist, had her home investigated in Mumbai as well. Ms. Setalvad has long worked for the rights of those who perished in the Gujarat State riots of 2002 and has written pieces for NewsClick that were critical of the administration.

At 06:30 local time (01:00 GMT), according to a source close to Mr. Purkayastha, more than 15 police officers showed up at the editor's residence.

They claimed that despite questioning him for many hours and removing all of the electronic equipment they discovered at his home, "they did not produce any warrants or paperwork." Later, footage from news organizations showed him being driven away by the police.

Ilin Saraswat, the attorney for Mr. Rajoura, claimed that the comedian's home was searched concurrently and that the police removed some of his earlier work on DVDs, his laptop, two phones, and other papers.

"The police stated that although Mr. Rajoura is not identified in the ongoing investigation, he would be questioned because he has worked with the website. No copy of the police complaint has been sent to us, he continued.

A representative for the Delhi Police informed the BBC that she will "share the details when she gets them" but has not yet commented on the raids.

The raids, according to reports, are related to a case brought against NewsClick in August following a New York Times article that claimed the website had been given money by an American businessman to propagate "Chinese propaganda."

According to the report, Neville Roy Singham collaborated closely with the "Chinese government media machine" and utilized his network of shell corporations and non-profit organizations to "finance its propaganda throughout the world."

According to reports, a complaint was filed against the website under the harsh anti-terror law known as UAPA, which makes it nearly impossible to obtain bail. NewsClick has disproved each and every accusation.

Who was searched?

One or more of the individuals involved in the raid worked for NewsClick; others were independent contractors.

Its founder and editor-in-chief, Prabir Purkayastha, is the author of several books and a founding member of the Delhi Science Forum. He was imprisoned together with a number of opposition politicians during the 1975 Emergency, which restricted civil liberties.

Journalist and activist Bhasha Singh has written extensively about farmers' suicides and manual scavenging. She has said that the administration is anti-women and appeared in a NewsClick video on Monday to voice her concern over the growing practice of BJP members who support the killer of India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.

A well-known video journalist who frequently criticizes the government is named Abhisar Sharma. Before moving to work at the NDTV news channel, he was employed by BBC Hindi. His final movie featured large demonstrations by government workers against a new pension plan.

The billionaire businessman Gautam Adani has launched many defamation lawsuits against writer, journalist, and filmmaker Paranjoy Guha Thakurta. He is most known for his investigations into the industrialist. He was cited earlier this year in a report by Hindenburg Research that said Mr. Adani's companies had engaged in decades of "brazen" rigging the stock and accounting fraud. Mr. Adani, a manufacturing magnate who is thought to be close to PM Modi, disputed the charges.

Popular stand-up comedian Sanjay Rajoura, who has performed in Bollywood, is a member of the comedy-music group Aisi Taisi Democracy (Democracy be damned). Mr. Rajoura is renowned for his scathing political humor, much of which criticizes the government of India. His writings cover a variety of subjects, including caste, masculinity, free speech, and fake news.

For more than ten years, Sohail Hashmi, a historian, activist, and filmmaker, has given speeches and led heritage tours on Delhi's past. He is organizing events this month to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Gandhi's killing through the trust Sahmat.

Political cartoonist Irfan Khan has spent three decades producing political cartoons for some of India's largest English- and Hindi-language newspapers and TV networks. He has collaborated with the Indian Election Commission on voter awareness campaigns and uses satire in his cartoons to comment on significant news events.

What's going on right now?

Although it's unclear when the police will reveal all the findings of their investigation, the raids have infuriated a lot of people.

The raids were denounced by journalists and news organizations as another example of the government's history of arbitrary and intimidating behavior.

The Press Club of India expressed its "deep concern" and pleaded with the administration to "come out with details."

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The National Alliance of Journalists and the Delhi Union of Journalists accused the government of pursuing NewsClick because of "their coverage of the issues of workers and farmers" in a joint statement.

Fears regarding press freedom in the largest democracy in the world have been raised since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014. A number of media organisations have been under investigation for possible financial irregularities.

Tax authorities searched BBC offices in India earlier this year and questioned employees about the organization's commercial activities there. Weeks after the broadcaster aired a program in the UK criticizing Mr. Modi's role in the 2002 Gujarat riots, searches were conducted in Delhi and Mumbai.

After publishing critical articles on how the government handled the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, tax authorities also charged the Dainik Bhaskar daily with tax evasion.

This year, India ranked 161st in Reporters Without Borders' rankings of countries with respect to press freedom. It stated that the country's position has gone from "problematic" to "very bad" and contrasted it with Turkey (ranked 165th) and Tajikistan (ranked 153rd).

Meryl Sebastian has more information from Kochi.