In its appeal, the Delhi Police has stated that the High Court has decided the case in hand “on a pre-conceived and a completely erroneous illusion”, as it were a simple case of protest by students, reported Bar & Bench
A day after the Delhi High Court ordered the release of Pinjra Tod collective’s activists Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, and Jamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha, the three are yet to walk out of jail. The Delhi Police sought three days’ time to verify sureties and addresses of the accused.
Devangana and Natasha had filed a special leave petition in the lower court the same day as Delhi High Court’s order came in.
The lower court judge had deferred passing an order on Tuesday for immediate release for want for verification of their addresses and sureties. It had sought a verification report from Delhi Police while posting the case for Wednesday.
When the matter came up on Wednesday, the Investigating Officer (IO) sought more time to conduct verification of addresses of the accused and their sureties.
Advocates Adit Pujari and Tusharika Mattoo and Sowjhanya Shankaran appearing for the accused, however, said that verification reports were not filed despite the time granted to IO, reported Bar & Bench
The Court after hearing the parties reserved its order which will now be pronounced at 11 am on Thursday.
“The accused have given permanent address as Jharkhand, Assam, and Haryana. It has to be verified…[there is a] paucity of time to complete verification.” the special public prosecutor said in court.
UN special rapporteur on human rights Mary Lawlor also tweeted in support of Narwal and Kalita and said that their “incarceration” is “deeply concerning”
The Delhi Police has, meanwhile also filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court order.
In its appeal, the Delhi Police has stated that the High Court has decided the case in hand “on a pre-conceived and a completely erroneous illusion”, as it were a simple case of protest by students, reported Bar & Bench
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It is averred that the High Court lost sight of evidence and statements produced before it “which clearly made out a sinister plot of mass-scale riots being hatched by the respondent along with other co-conspirators.”
The appeal takes exception to the observations of the Court that the arrests were part of the government’s attempt to curb dissent.
The three activists have been charged under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and have been languishing in jail since May 2020.
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