A Delhi court on Thursday ordered immediate release of student activists Devangana Kalita, Natasha Narwal and Asif Iqbal Tanha in the north- east Delhi riots 'conspiracy' case.
The order came two days after the Delhi High Court granted bail to Narwal, Kalita and Tanha. Pinjra Tod activists Narwal and Kalita, and Students’ Islamic Organisation activist Tanha had been booked under the UAPA anti-terror law for their alleged role in the Delhi riots last year.
The three student activists were not released from the jail on time citing lack of verification details of their addresses and sureties. The trio is accused of being the ''masterminds'' of the February 2020 violence, which had left 53 people dead and and more than 200 injured.
The three accused were arrested in May last year in connection with the riots in north east Delhi.
On Tuesday, The Delhi High Court, while granting bail, had directed Pinjra Tod group activists Narwal and Kalita and Tanha to surrender their passports and not to offer any inducement to prosecution witnesses or tamper with the evidence in the case.
It directed them to furnish a personal bond of Rs 50,000 each along with two sureties of the like amount.
The three accused shall not indulge in any unlawful activities and shall reside at the address as mentioned in prison records, the high court said.
Communal clashes had broken out in north east Delhi on February 24 last year after violence between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.
Tanha had challenged a trial court's October 26, 2020 order dismissing his bail application on grounds that he allegedly played an active role in the entire conspiracy with reasonable grounds for believing the allegations to be prima facie true.
Narwal and Kalita had challenged the trial court's January 28 order 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.
They had had filed their appeals challenging a trial court's order dismissing their bail pleas in a Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case related to the riots.
(With inputs from PTI)
