Indian student activists granted bail in Delhi riots case

NEW DELHI

An Indian court on Tuesday granted bail to three student activists in a case related to last year's riots in Delhi.

Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Asif Iqbal Tanha were arrested last May under the controversial Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) which allows authorities to detain individuals for breach of national security.

A bench of the Delhi High Court said: “We are constrained to express, that it seems, that in its anxiety to suppress dissent, in the mind of the state, the line between the constitutionally guaranteed right to protest and terrorist activity seems to be getting somewhat blurred. If this mindset gains traction, it would be a sad day for democracy.”

Narwal and Kalita are students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), known for its left-leaning politics. Tanha is a student at Jamia Millia Islamia, a Muslim-dominated university in the capital.

They were arrested by the Delhi police for alleged violence.

The communal riots, which turned violent, in northeast Delhi between Feb. 23 and 27 in 2020 killed over 53 people, mostly Muslims, and injured over 250.