Narwal's counsel points to gaps in police probe; prosecution compares riots to 'Mahabharata'

New delhi: JNU student and Pinjra Tod activist Natasha Narwal on Thursday alleged that the sanction under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against her for purportedly being involved in a "premeditated conspiracy" behind the north-east Delhi riots was "vitiated" and "showed non-application of mind".

Narwal's counsel, Adit Pujari, while arguing her bail plea before Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat also questioned the swiftness with which the prosecution sanction against the 15 accused persons was given by a "mythical Review Committee" which further recommended it to the Delhi government for final approval.

Pujari further raised doubts over the February 16/17 Chand Bagh meeting which the Delhi police has alleged "later became the genesis of the brutal murders including that of Head Constable Rattan Lal, Rahul Solanki and Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma". "There is no evidence of Natasha being present in the meeting as per her call detail records…Is the life of these policemen more important than the other 50 people who were killed…the 84-year-old lady who lost her life?" Pujari argued while questioning as to why the chargesheet solely revolves around the death of the three persons.

The counsel further argued that there was a "communal narrative that was being created" by a "few members of a political party" in the run-up to the Delhi Assembly polls earlier this year where the Election Commission too had intervened by issuing them notices.

"Police is creating a whole smokescreen around what happened…you cannot obfuscate the issue…I have every right to say that the prosecution is malafide," Pujari submitted.

Claiming that it was a case of "deliberately false investigation", the counsel argued that "no prima facie case is made out" against Narwal. "She was peacefully sitting at one place between February 22 to 25," Pujari said. Reiterating that the present case is not related to that of accused Sharjeel Imam, Pujari stated that "Narwal was part of a secular protest where she was protesting among Muslim women". "Not one acid injury was reported in Jafrabad…the closest took place 17 kms away," he added.

"What is the object of keeping two educated women inside the jail…what will they get out of fomenting riots," Pujari told the court.

Appearing on behalf of the Delhi Police, Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad told the court that "the intent of the accused was not to protest but to undertake a disruptive chakka jam through the DPSG WhatsApp group with a clear indication that the end result was violence".

Meanwhile, Public Prosecutor Prasad, referring to the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata, also told the court that the latter was a story of conspiracy while the Northeast Delhi riots was also a conspiracy where the character "Dhritarashtra" was yet to be identified. In response, Pujari stated, "this is not the Ramayana where we are going to wait 14 years to see if we can finally come out".