NEW DELHI: Indian police raided the offices of a news website that's under investigation for allegedly receiving funds from China, as well as the homes of several of its journalists, in what critics described as an attack on one of India's few remaining independent news outlets.
The raids came months after Indian authorities searched the BBC’s New Delhi and Mumbai offices over accusations of tax evasion in February.
NewsClick, founded in 2009, is known as a rare Indian news outlets that is willing to criticize Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A number of other news organizations have been investigated for financial impropriety under Modi's Hindu nationalist government, as international monitors warn that press freedom is eroding in India.
Indian authorities registered a case against the site and its journalists on Aug. 17, weeks after a New York Times report alleged that the website had received funds from an American millionaire who, the Times wrote, has funded the spread of “Chinese propaganda.” NewsClick has denied the charges.
The case was filed under a wide-ranging anti-terrorism law that allows charges for “anti-national activities” and has been used against activists, journalists and critics of Modi, some of whom have spent years in jail before going to trial. No one has been arrested in connection with NewsClick so far.
The Press Trust of India news agency cited unidentified officials as saying that investigators took data from the laptops and mobile phones of journalists, and that two journalists were detained.
At least two journalists whose houses were raided by Delhi police confirmed their devices were seized.
“Delhi police landed at my home. Taking away my laptop and phone,” journalist Abhisar Sharma wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Delhi police did not immediately respond for a comment, but India’s junior minister for information and broadcasting, Anurag Thakur, told reporters that “if anyone has committed anything wrong, search agencies are free to carry out investigations against them.”
In August, Thakur accused NewsClick of spreading an “anti-India agenda,” citing the New York Times, and of working with the opposition Indian National Congress party. Both NewsClick and the Congress party denied the accusations.
Reporters Without Borders, an advocacy group for journalists, ranked the country 161st in its press freedom rankings this year, writing that the situation in the country has deteriorated from “problematic” to “very bad.”
The Press Club of India said it was “deeply concerned about the multiple raids conducted on the houses of journalists and writers associated with NewsClick.”
“The PCI stand in solidarity with the journalists and demands the government to come out with details,” it wrote in a statement on X.
Ties between India and China have been strained since 2020, when clashes between the two militaries in a disputed border area killed at least 20 Indian troops and four Chinese soldiers. Since then, New Delhi has banned many Chinese-owned apps, including TikTok, and launched tax probes into some Chinese mobile phone companies.
The Modi administration has also introduced rules that require government approval for investments by companies from China and other countries that neighbor India.
AP Newsroom
Tue Oct 03 2023
![India police search journalists' homes and offices in the country's latest raids on media India police search journalists' homes and offices in the country's latest raids on media](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2023-10/61696328897_TBIndiaPolice.jpg)
Security officers stand guard outside the office of Delhi Police's Special Cell in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023. - AP Photo/Piyush Nagpal
Tumpuan Isnin – 08 Julai 2024
Ikuti rangkuman berita utama yang menjadi tumpuan di Astro AWANI.
'Jeff' dinobat siput terpantas dunia, menang Kejohanan Dunia Lumba Siput
Tahun ini, siput bernama Jeff dinobatkan sebagai pemenang, menang saingan akhir dengan masa 4 minit dan 3 saat. Begitupun, kepantasan Jeff tidak dapat memadam rekod yang dibuat pada tahun 1995 oleh seekor siput bernama Archie.
![Pentadbiran Prabowo-Gibran dijangka perkukuh industri sawit Indonesia Pentadbiran Prabowo-Gibran dijangka perkukuh industri sawit Indonesia](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/81720368598_TBPrabowo.jpg)
Pentadbiran Prabowo-Gibran dijangka perkukuh industri sawit Indonesia
Kerajaan baharu yang akan dipimpin oleh Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka dijangka memperkukuh daya saing produk minyak sawit sebagai komoditi strategik untuk pasaran domestik dan antarabangsa.
![Kanak-kanak lelaki maut selepas terjatuh ke dalam tasik Kanak-kanak lelaki maut selepas terjatuh ke dalam tasik](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-01/61706067730_TBgarisanpolis.jpg)
Kanak-kanak lelaki maut selepas terjatuh ke dalam tasik
Seorang kanak-kanak lelaki berusia sembilan tahun maut selepas terjatuh ke dalam tasik dipercayai ketika sedang mencari lokan di Taman Tasik Teratai Fasa 2 Serendah, Hulu Selangor.
Ribuan umat Islam zahir solidariti kepada Palestin di Shah Alam
Bertemakan Gaza Bangkit, program pada Ahad malam itu turut mengundang pendakwah dari Indonesia, Ustaz Abdul Somad Batubara untuk menyampaikan ceramah.
NGO, belia perlu ambil iktibar peristiwa hijrah - PM
Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim menyeru pertubuhan bukan kerajaan dan gerakan belia mengambil iktibar daripada peristiwa Hijrah Nabi Muhammad SAW untuk mengembalikan kegemilangan negara.
Kehadiran ATM di Timur Sabah berikan keyakinan masyarakat setempat
Kehadiran pasukan Angkatan Tentera Malaysia (ATM) di Timur Sabah meningkatkan keyakinan masyarakat setempat serta merancakkan lagi pembangunan sektor pelancongan, ekonomi dan sosial di kawasan itu.
![Berita tempatan pilihan sepanjang hari ini Berita tempatan pilihan sepanjang hari ini](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2023-12/61703329565_TBBERITAx.jpg)
Berita tempatan pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Berikut adalah berita yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang Ahad, 7 Julai 2024.
![Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-03/71709993909_TBBERITAx.jpg)
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Berikut adalah yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang Ahad, 7 Julai 2024.
Enam cedera hari pertama Festival Larian Lembu di Sepanyol
Meskipun ada yang cedera, acara tersebut sentiasa mendapat perhatian dan tahun ini, ratusan orang mengejar enam ekor lembu jantan di bandar itu.