NewsClick said on Thursday that Delhi High Court’s quashing of two cases against the news portal had vindicated its stand that the multiple probes against it were merely attacks on the free press.

NewsClick was rendered almost defunct after a barrage of cases and a 113-hour-long raid at its office and the home of its editor-in-chief, Prabir Purkayastha, in 2021. Its accounts were frozen and the devices of its employees seized.

Though the money laundering case and a related Delhi police FIR have been struck down by the court, cases under the Foreign Exchange Management Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for which Purkayastha, now 79, spent six months in jail, are still on, as are the income tax probes. Purkayastha, a CPM member, was jailed during the Emergency.

NewsClick is accused of allegedly accepting funds infused illegally from US investor Neville Roy Singham, whom the police have described as a member of the Communist Party of China. The company has denied the charges.

The portal said in a statement: “NewsClick has always maintained that the numerous cases and charges against it are attacks on the freedom of the press. NewsClick’s only ‘fault’ has been to practice journalism that covers people’s movements. Delhi High Court vindicates our position. It also takes a strong stand in support of independent journalism in India. We are confident that the various other proceedings against NewsClick will also be resolved, and so reaffirm freedom of the press.”

NewsClick faces a ₹100-crore defamation suit by the Adani Group.

CPM general secretary M.A. Baby wrote on X: “The judgment exposes the blatant lies concocted by the Union Government in collusion with central agencies to target independent journalism that unapologetically took a pro-people stand. The farcical UAPA case and other proceedings against NewsClick and Purkayastha should be withdrawn immediately, and the outlet and its journalists must be compensated for the injustice inflicted upon them.”