New Delhi: The Patiala House court on Thursday (October 5) granted NewsClick founder and editor Prabir Purkayastha’s plea to be provided a copy of the FIR under which he has been arrested.Earlier in the day, the Delhi Police opposed Purkayastha’s plea for a copy of the FIR.According to Scroll, Special Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava called the application “premature”, and said that the accused must approach the police commissioner rather than the court.Purkayastha and the head of the portal’s HR department, Amit Chakraborty, were arrested under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act late on Tuesday after the Delhi Police’s Special Cell conducted raids at the residences of around 46 journalists and others, and confiscated all their devices. Some of the journalists were also questioned for several hours.Action against the portal continued on Thursday, when the Delhi Police went to the home of a contractor who had worked on the publication’s office space and took him to the police station.Despite the large-scale action and arrests, the Delhi Police refused to give Newsclick‘s lawyers a copy of the FIR. Purkayastha then filed a plea before Additional Sessions Judge Hardeep Kaur at the Patiala House Courts to be provided a copy of the FIR on Wednesday. The court had then issued notice to the police on the plea.While Newsclick‘s lawyers struggle to obtain the FIR, sections of the media seem to have had no problem in accessing the document – suggesting that the police force has chosen to selectively leak the FIR.As Scroll has reported, an accused has the fundamental right to be informed of the grounds under which they are arrested:“Article 22(1) of the Indian Constitution states: “No person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds for such arrest”. This is a near-absolute fundamental right, with extremely limited regulation imposed by Article 22(3), which is not applicable in the present case.”Newsclick‘s lawyers have planned to challenge the validity of the FIR in court, but are being unable to do so without a copy.The action against Newsclick and its staff members and contributors has been criticised by media rights bodies across the country. Eighteen media organisations have also written to Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud expressing their alarm over the situation.This story was originally published on October 5 at 3:05 pm, and has been republished on the same date at 6:00 pm with more updates.