SC to hear pleas of Delhi Police against HC verdicts granting bail to 3 students

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the petitions filed by Delhi Police challenging the Delhi High Court verdicts granting bail to three student activists in a northeast Delhi riots case on July 22The apex court had on June 18 expressed its displeasure over the high court discussing the entire antiterror law UAPA in a bail matter and made it clear that the judgements shall not be treated as a precedent and may not be relied upon by any of the parties in any of the proceedings The top court which had agreed to hear the appeals filed by police and issued notices to JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita and Jamia Millia Islamia University student Asif Iqbal Tanha seeking their responses had refused to stay the high court verdictsThe apex court had clarified in its June 18 order that release of these students on bail was not being interfered with at this stage The pleas would come up for hearing on July 22 before a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hemant Gupta While hearing the matter last month the top court had taken note of Solicitor General Tushar Mehtas submission that the entire Unlawful Activities Prevention Act UAPA has been turned upside down by the high court in granting bail in the case and observed that the issue is important and can have panIndia ramificationsMehta had said that 53 persons died and over 700 were injured during the riots which took place at a time when the then US president and other dignitaries were here The high court had said although the definition of terrorist act in section 15 of the UAPA is wide and somewhat vague it must partake the essential character of terrorism and the phrase terrorist act cannot be permitted to be applied in a cavalier manner to criminal acts that squarely fall under the Indian Penal CodeAlso Read Delhi riots Court acquits one accused in first judgmentThe Delhi Police has assailed the verdict saying the interpretation of the high court would weaken the prosecution in terror cases The police further contended in its appeal that the high court had said the UAPA provisions can only be applied to deal with matters of profound impact on the Defence of India nothing more and nothing lessThe high court had on June 15 granted bail to the three student activists saying in an anxiety to suppress dissent the State has blurred the line between right to protest and terrorist activity and if such a mindset gains traction it would be a sad day for democracy The high court in three separate judgments had set aside the trial courts orders denying bail to these student activists and allowed their appeals by admitting them to regular bail on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 50000 each along with two sureties of the like amountThese three student activists were released from jail on June 17 The case relates to the last years communal violence in northeast Delhi during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act CAA In its three separate appeals filed in the apex court the Delhi Police has said that the high courts findings are perverse and contrary to record and appeared to be based more on the social media narrative than the evidence gathered and elaborated in the charge sheet Kalita Narwal and Tanha are accused in four three and two cases respectively relating to communal riots that broke out on February 24 last yearThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever