A day after they got bail from the Delhi High Court in a Delhi riots case, a trial court issued release warrants for student activists Devangana Kalita, Natasha Narwal and Asif Iqbal Tanha on Thursday.
The trial court’s directive came shortly after a division bench of the Delhi High Court on Thursday noted the lower court must consider with "alacrity" the issue of release of the three student activists.
Devangana Kalita, Natasha Narwal and Asif Iqbal Tanha remained in jail despite being granted bail by the High Court on Wednesday as the trial court deferred its order on a plea for their immediate release.
"Order could not be passed due to the heavy board of bail applications listed before the undersigned. Be put up for orders tomorrow at 11AM,” Additional Sessions Judge Revinder Bedi stated, after JNU students Kalita and Narwal moved the trial court seeking immediate release from prison. During the course of proceedings, the Delhi Police sought more time from the court to verify their addresses, sureties and authenticity of the Aadhaar cards before releasing them on bail and said that three days would be required to complete the verification process.
On Thursday, the bench of Justices Sidharth Mridul and Anup Jairam Bhambhani took up a plea from Narwal, Kalita and Tanha."We expect the trial court to proceed with promptitude and expedition and pronounce on the issues pending determination before it forthwith," the bench was quoted as saying by Live Law. The three student activists had argued the delay in their release was a violation of their fundamental rights. "Once an order of bail has been granted, release cannot be delayed citing administrative reasons. The court deferred the release citing heavy board," advocate Siddhart Aggarwal, appearing for the activists, was quoted as saying by Live Law.
