New Delhi: Delhi police on Wednesday moved Supreme Court challenging the Delhi High Court's order granting bail to Pinjra Tod activists Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal and Jamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha. They were arrested in connection with the northeast Delhi violence case.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday held that the fundamental right to protest is not outlawed and cannot be termed as a "terrorist act" within the meaning of the stringent anti-terror law UAPA. It made this observation while granting bail to JNU student and Pinjra Tod activist Devangana Kalita in a case of larger conspiracy related to the northeast Delhi riots last year, in which 53 people were killed while more than 400 were injured.
Read: Children can't be vaccinated currently, trials on below 18 underway: Centre to Delhi HC
A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anup Jairam Bhambhani said: "Right to protest is a fundamental right that flows from the constitutionally guaranteed right to assemble peaceably and without arms enshrined in Article 19(1)(b) of our Constitution, surely the right to protest is not outlawed and cannot be termed as a 'terrorist act' within the meaning of the UAPA, unless of course the ingredients of the offences under Sections 15, 17 and/or 18 of the UAPA are clearly discernible from the factual allegations contained in charge sheet and the material filed therewith."
The High Court emphasised that offences under the UAPA are treated as extremely serious, inviting very severe punishment; and therefore, the formation of an independent judicial view by the court at every step of the way, is imperative.
Read: Protest is not terror activity, HC grants bail to 3 in Delhi riots
