Despite HC's release order, student activists spent 2 more days in jail
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New Delhi: Despite the Delhi High Court order to release, Pinjra Tod activists Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, and Students' Islamic Organisation activist Asif Iqbal Tanha spent 36 more hours in the jail only to begin the releasing process with a Delhi court order to Delhi police for their immediate release.
Delhi Police has approached the Supreme Court urging them to stay the order and allow time until July 21 to verify their addresses.
The student activists were arrested a year ago under the UAPA anti-terror law in connection with the Northeast Delhi violence. The High Court bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anup Jairam Bhambhani had said that the activists are not at risk of flight.
The Delhi Police have filed a Special Leave Petitions (SLP) in the top court challenging the bail. The police said that the High Court judges made the decision based on a preconceived and completely erroneous illusion. The police accused the HC bench of taking the decision on the basis of a social media narrative instead of the evidence shown in the charge sheet. The police also stated that the court treated the case as a simple protest by students.
The Delhi High Court had said the case shows the state's anxiety to suppress dissent and in the attempt of that, the line between the right to protest and terrorist activity seems to be getting blurred. The justices also pointed out that the case is not suited to democracy.
The police department has taken objection to the statement and called it a perverse insinuation that it is a false case registered by the government to suppress dissent. The police said that the High Court conducted a "mini-trial" at the time of bail hearing and it was beyond the preview of the petition at hand.
The SLP pointed out that the HC did not analyse the logical and convincing evidence on record and considered irrelevant information regarding the conspirators. The Delhi Police insisted that there is cause and evidence of terrorist activity.
The three student activists had moved applications in a city court for immediate release after the High Court granted them bail. The Delhi Police told the court of Additional Sessions, Judge Ravinder Bedi, on Wednesday that the department will not be able to file the verification report before June 22.