Delhi riots: Student activists released from Tihar jail on bail

Student activists Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Asif Iqbal Tanha walked out of Tihar prison on Thursday, hours after a court here ordered their immediate release in the north-east Delhi riots “conspiracy” case.

The order came two days after the Delhi High Court granted bail to Narwal, Kalita and Tanha, who were arrested in May last year under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Director General (Delhi Prisons) Sandeep Goel confirmed that all three have been released.

Director General (Delhi Prisons) Sandeep Goel confirmed their release. A senior jail official said Kalita and Narwal were released around 7 pm and Tanha around 7.30 pm. The three student activists were not released from the prison on time over delays in verifying their addresses and sureties.

After walking out on bail, Narwal said they received “tremendous support” inside Tihar Jail in Delhi and added that they would continue their struggle.

JNU students Narwal and Kalita thanked their friends and well-wishers, many of whom gathered outside the jail, for supporting them during their year-long stay behind bars.

Welcoming the HC order, Narwal, an activist of women collective Pinjra Tod, said when they were arrested it took them many months to believe that they were in jail under such stringent charges.

Hitting out at the government, Kalita said people are in jail for raising their voice. “They are trying to suppress the voice of people and dissent. We got a lot of support from people, which helped us survive inside (jail),” she said.

On the delay in their release after the high court granted them bail, she said it was unbelievable because they had secured bail two-three days ago.

"...still we were inside jail. I almost kept expecting that some police officers will come and arrest me," she added.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will on Friday hear the appeals of Delhi Police challenging the Delhi HC verdicts granting bail to three student-activists in a case related to last year’s communal violence in northeast Delhi during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

A vacation bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice V Ramaburamanian will hear three separate appeals filed by Delhi police which said that the High Court’s findings are “perverse and contrary to record” and appeared to be based “more on the social media narrative”.

The high court had granted bail to JNU students Kalita and Narwal, and Tanha, Jamia Millia Islamia student, on June 15, but the order by the trial court directing their immediate release from the jail came on Thursday, not before they rushed to the high court complaining about the delay in completing the formalities.