Govt, police replies sought on Narwal and Kalita's bail appeals in High Court

new delhi: The Delhi High Court Friday sought the response of the Delhi government and police on appeals by JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita against the dismissal of their bail pleas by a trial court in a UAPA case related to the north-east Delhi riots last year.

A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and A J Bhambhani issued notice to the Delhi government and police and sought their stand on the two appeals by March 10, the next date of hearing.

Advocate Adit S Pujari, appearing for the two students, argued before the bench that the investigation in the case was "tainted".

Narwal and Kalita, who are also members of Pinjra Tod (break the cage) group, were arrested last year in May in connection with the communal riots in north-east Delhi and are in judicial custody.

They were arrested by the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police and also been booked under the stringent anti-terror law - Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in a separate case related to the riots, for allegedly being part of a "premeditated conspiracy" in the riots.

In all, four cases have been registered against Kalita, including in relation to the northeast Delhi riots and violence in old Delhi's Daryaganj area during protests against the CAA in December 2019. Narwal is accused in three.

Except for the UAPA case, both have secured bail in all other cases.

The trial court had on January 28 dismissed their bail pleas saying the allegations against them were prima facie true and provisions of anti-terror law have been rightly invoked in the present case.