The Indian court has granted bail to activists arrested in Delhi riots for the new protests

The court released Devangana Kalita, Natasha Narwal and Asif Iqbal Tanha, who were arrested under a strict terrorism law.

An Indian court has granted bail to three young activists arrested under a strict terrorism law for the deadly riots against Muslim outbreaks that erupted in the capital New Delhi last year.

The bail given on Tuesday by police in 2019 was part of a “bigger conspiracy” in the violence in Delhi after protests against the controversial citizenship law passed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal, members of the feminist collective, and Asif Iqbal Tanha, a university student, were arrested in May last year for illegal activities (prevention) under the law (UAPA).

In 1967 it was first introduced as an “anti-terrorism law”. The UAPA allows a defendant to be detained for 180 days without charge.

The law has been tightened in recent years after some amendments gave broad powers to law enforcement agencies, sparking outrage from rights groups and international organizations.

‘Anxiety to suppress disagreement’

In order to guarantee the three activists, the Delhi High Court said the government should be careful to “constitutionally guarantee the line between the right to protest and terrorist activity”.

“It seems that in the anxiety to remove dissent, in the mind of the state, it seems that the boundary between the right to protest and terrorist activity through constitutional constitution is blurring,” the court said, according to Indian media.

“If that mindset were to succeed, it would be a sad day for democracy.”

Bond to Devangana, Natasha and Asif in UAPA case. ✊????✊????
One of the happiest days of my life. Let’s continue more. May justice prevail.
Alhamdulillah

– Safoora Zargar (@SafooraZargar) June 15, 2021

Dozens of activists have been arrested for protesting against the Citizenship Change Act, which is accelerating the naturalization of India by religious minorities – Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Gods, Parsis and Christians – from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, but makes no reference to Muslims. .

Tens of thousands of Indians took to the streets in support of a law the United Nations called “fundamentally discriminatory,” turning it into a seat organized by women in a Muslim-dominated neighborhood in New Delhi. protests.

Violence erupted in protests against the CAA in Muslim neighborhoods in north-east Delhi in February last year. At least 53 people, mostly Muslims, were killed and dozens of houses and mosques destroyed.

Rights groups accused Delhi police of inactivity or complicity in the violence, the worst the capital has seen in 1984 after the riots against the Sikhs.

In the aftermath of the police crackdown on Muslims, dozens of activists – many of them Muslims, some victims of violence – were accused of inciting the riots and arrested, according to the UAPA and other officials.

Kalita and Narwal are members of the group of Pinjda Tod (Break the Cage), a feminist collective campaigning for more freedom and rights for women in university hostels in India.

Tanha is a student of Jamia Millia Islam in New Delhi, a university founded by Muslims in the freedom movement against the British in India.

Last month, Natasha Narwal, 32, he lost his father Mahavir Narwal, a retired professor and activist, against coronavirus. He was given a three-week temporary bail to perform his father’s final rites.