After two days of dramatic back and forth at the courts in Delhi, three student activists, arrested under the stringent anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, will be able to walk free from prison. They will be released almost 36 hours after getting bail.
JNU students Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Jamia Millia Islamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha were granted bail by the Delhi High Court on Tuesday in the case related to alleged larger conspiracy in the north east Delhi riots in February last year.
The three students were arrested last year under the stringent anti-terror law -- Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), for allegedly inciting violence during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register for Citizens (NRC) in Delhi.
Communal clashes broke out when pro-CAA and anti-CAA protestors clashed with each other on February 24, 2020, in north east Delhi, which claimed at least 53 people and left more than 200 people injured including police personnel.
On Tuesday evening the lawyers of Narwal and Kalita had approached a city court in Delhi seeking their release. The court had deferred passing an order on the application for want of verification of their addresses and sureties.
It had directed the police to file the report on Wednesday by 1 pm. However, on Wednesday the police sought more time to file the report. After a brief hearing, they filed some of the required reports by 3 pm.
Delay in verification not reason to be in jail
Finally, the city court on Thursday issued the release warrants and said in its order that the accused cannot be kept imprisoned till the time the verification reports were filed by the police.
Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Bedi said in his order, "From the circumstances forwarded by the IO (investigating officer), I observe that at least the verification process qua sureties must have been filed by 1:00 pm yesterday all sureties are residents of Delhi. Apropos the reason forwarded by the IO that verification qua accused's permanent address would need time. I would say this by itself cannot be a plausible reason for the accused to be kept imprisoned till the time such reports are filed."
The court directed the IO to file the verification report on or before June 23 at 2:30 pm with the concerned court. It also directed the police to verify the address of the accused and submit it at 5 pm Thursday.
Meanwhile, the lawyers had also approached the Delhi High Court today morning for their immediate release. To this, the High Court had observed that the trial court must expedite the proceedings and adjourned the matter.
While granting bail to Natasha Narwal, the High Court had said, "It seems that in its anxiety to suppress dissent, in the mind of the State, the line between the constitutionally guaranteed right to protest and terrorist activity seems to be getting somewhat blurred".
The high court had added it would be a "sad day for democracy" if this mindset gained traction.
