Delhi riots UAPA case: Bail denied to Gulfisha Fatima and one other co-accused

New Delhi: A Delhi Court on Wednesday refused to grant bail to student activist Gulfisha Fatima in the case concerning the larger conspiracy behind the Delhi riots of February 2020 — FIR 59/2020, the one being probed by the Special Cell under sections of UAPA.

Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat also dismissed the bail application of another co-accused in the case Tasleem Ahmed.

Fatima and Ahmed, along with several others, have been booked under the anti-terror law — Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) — in the case for being the "masterminds" of the February 2020 riots, which had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

The violence had erupted during the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019, and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

On March 14, the court had granted bail to former Congress Councillor Ishrat Jahan in the case and noted that the charge sheet alleged the existence of a premediated conspiracy, which involved various groups and individuals, to have disrupted chakka-jam and a "pre-planned protest at 23 sites in order to incite violence and that the alleged acts by the accused persons were covered by the definition of terrorist act under the UAPA.

It had however said that the alleged role of Ishrat Jahan, on a prima facie consideration, persuaded it to allow her application in spite of the embargoes contained in the law.

Activist Khalid Saifi, Umar Khalid, JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and several others have also been booked under the stringent law in the case.

In June last year, the Delhi High Court had granted bail to Asif Iqbal Tanha, Natasha Narwal, and Devangana Kalita in the case, observing that "in an anxiety to suppress dissent, the state has blurred the line between the right to protest and terrorist activity" and if such a mindset gains traction, it would be a "sad day for democracy".

Before this, the Delhi High Court had also granted bail to Safoora Zargar, while she was pregnant and in jail, on humanitarian grounds. Significantly, another accused who was granted bail in the case is Faizan Khan, a SIM card seller charged in the case.

So far, six accused in the case have been granted bail, of them only Ishrat by the Sessions Court. The orders on the bail pleas of Umar Khalid and Khalid Saifi have been deferred for later this month.