Protest is not terror activity, HC grants bail to 3 in Delhi riots

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday granted bail to Pinjra tod activists Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal and Jamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha, arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, in connection with the north-east Delhi violence case.

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday granted bail to Pinjra tod activists Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal and Jamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha, arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, in connection with the north-east Delhi violence case. A Division Bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anup Jairam Bhambhani granted bail to Kalita, Narwal and Tanha on furnishing of a personal bond of Rs 50,000 each and two local sureties of each. The court also asked them to surrender passport, not to indulge in unlawful activities and not to hamper investigation in the matter.

Narwal and Kalita were arrested on March 23, 2020, in the anti-CAA protest case related to Jafrabad in North-East Delhi but were granted bail thereafter. But soon after getting bail, they were arrested by Delhi Police on March 24 in another case and later they were also arrested under a larger conspiracy case under provisions of UAPA.

The court imposed conditions including that they shall not travel out of the country without prior permission. The court asked them not to contact, nor visit, nor offer any inducement, threat, or promise to any of the prosecution witnesses or other persons acquainted with the facts of the case. "The appellant shall not tamper with evidence nor otherwise indulge in any act or omission that is unlawful or that would prejudice the proceedings in the pending trial," the court said.

Tanha has challenged a trial court order which dismissed his bail plea. Delhi Police has opposed the bail plea. A Delhi Court while dismissing Tanha bail plea has observed that the accused Asif Iqbal Tanha was closely connected with other co-accused and played a very active role in the entire conspiracy of organizing the so-called protest at the protest sites which resulted in riots, killing numerous people besides injuries and destruction of property.

(ANI)