By Dr Olav Albuquerque

COMING close on the heels of the Opposition boycotting 14 news anchors whose news were intertwined with their views to allegedly disseminate propaganda, the arrest of NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha, has justifiably evoked consternation and outrage.
But what we forget in all this brouhaha is that under the Indian Constitution, journalists enjoy no special privilege or exemption from the law, unlike the US Constitution which prevents Congress which is equivalent to our Parliament, from enacting any law to curtail freedom of the press.
As a result, journalists cannot refuse to disclose their sources of information if they are accused of receiving funds from China to disseminate pernicious propaganda which emanates from that country. It is true that investigative agencies are violating press freedom by seizing laptops and mobile phones to dig out who said what to these journalists.
All over the world, cub reporters are taught never to disclose their sources of information to the courts or the police provided the information is authentic. But what happens if some of these reporters are accused of spying for an enemy country ? The rules change because of the changing circumstances. The rule that journalists never ever disclose their sources of information is a professional rule but has not been incorporated into the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.
There have been incidents where journalists were forced to reveal their sources of information to agencies like the CBI. A Delhi court declared that in India, there is no statutory exemption for journalists from being forced to reveal their sources of information to the police who are investigating heinous crimes.
That is definitely true. But the honourable court has omitted to state that journalists are duty bound to inform the public and not help in crime detection just as lawyers who defend criminals are not bound to divulge what their clients told them.

PRIVILEGED COMMUNIATION
NOR is a doctor forced to reveal what his patient told him. These are called privileged communications. Forcing the hapless journalist to reveal his sources is preventing the journalist from informing the public about corruption and crime because nobody will come forward to speak to journalists once they know their identities will be revealed.
But to revert to NewsClick. Let us face it. China has always been India’s arch enemy and routed our armed forces during the 1962 war because of Pandit Jawharlal Nehru’s skewed policy of Hindi-Chini bhai bhai while that country was preparing to attack India. There are columnists who publicize imbecilic views that China is India’s greatest friend and both will emerge as superpowers
That is why if Amit Chakravarty, head of human resources at NewsClick, was aware the website was receiving funds from China but chose to continue to work in NewsClick, he too must be investigated.
All these arrests came after the office of the New Delhi-based English-language news portal and homes of several journalists and writers linked to it were raided as part of an investigation into suspected illegal foreign funding of the media company.
“A special investigation team launched a search operation to identify all those individuals who were possibly getting funds from overseas to run a media group with the main agenda of spreading foreign propaganda,” said a home ministry official who supervised the raids by the Delhi Police.
The NewsClick website says it reports on news from India and elsewhere with a focus on “progressive movements” whatever that might mean. The slapping of charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act may seem very harsh but is there some basis for the allegation that the website was acting at the behest of China ? If yes, then the government is not overstepping its bounds by investigating this news portal.
All the national newspapers have stressed the government is yet to point to a specific allegation which merited the arrest and charging of NewsClick editor-in-chief, Prabir Purkayastha. “Even for a government that has shown itself to be intolerant of critical journalism, the actions by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led regime on the news website NewsClick smack of extreme vendetta and brazen harassment,” said a columnist.
Those arrested were not given a copy of the FIR, while Purkayastha was granted protection by the Delhi high court from arrest, and a lower court also dismissed a complaint filed by the income tax department against the media outlet.
While the government claims that NewsClick is proximate to the Chinese government and pushing its agenda against India, some columnists pointed out that law enforcement agencies were unable “to point out any specific article on the site that amounted to illegal propaganda against India”.
Most of the national newspapers said the government engaged in a systematic vilification and disinformation campaign against the news portal while some of its actions were driven by an impulse to make a scapegoat of a media outlet and to create a chilling effect on critical journalism.
“No government can or should so brazenly target journalists solely based on suspicion about its funding and thereby undermine the freedom of expression, which is guaranteed under the Constitution,” The Hindu said.
The Indian Express said the NewsClick raids and arrests “underlines apprehensions of Police-ED being weaponised and a draconian law being deployed to intimidate a media organisation.” These arrests and raids, raised “grave questions about press freedom, a crucial part of the citizens’ fundamental right to know.”
What we must accept is that the Modi government is acting within its jurisdiction by investigating a news portal accused of receiving funds and broadcasting propaganda on behalf of India’s Enemy No 1 which is China. But whether there is evidence of this is a question which needs to be answered.
On one hand, our Prime Minister is seen shaking hands with the Chinese President Xi Jin Ping whose decision led to the brutal hacking of 20 brave jawans, while on the other hand, Chinese goods continue to flood the Indian market. The media is not allowed to report on how much territory the Chinese army is illegally occupying on grounds of national security.
So, we have to wait and watch what happens to NewsClick.