Students activists, who were released from Delhi’s Tihar Jail after the intervention of the Delhi High Court on Thursday, have vowed to continue their struggle. Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Asif Iqbal Tanha were released from jail more than one year after they were arrested in the Delhi riots case.
A student of Jamia Millia Islamia, Tanha said in a statement, “I am grateful to Almighty Allah and thank all supporters, my lawyers and all people fighting for the freedom of others. I hope that all political prisoners, everyone who is imprisoned due to their ideology or identity, will be released very soon.”
He added, “I want to reiterate that our fight is against the discriminatory CAA and not against people of any faith. I am glad that the honourable court has asserted that our peaceful and democratic protests had nothing to do with the riots. I hope that this judgment will serve as an important precedent.”
All three student activists were booked under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
They were greeted by their family and friends who had arrived outside the jail to receive them.
According to news agency PTI, the Pinjra Tod activist-duo were greeted with slogans of ”Lal Salaam”, ”Natasha Zindabad” and ”Devangana Zindabad”.
Narwal had lost her father, Mahavir Narwal, to coronavirus last month while she was still inside the jail.
Narwal said after the release, “… we would like to thank the Delhi High Court for upholding what we believe in. Any such protest that we have done is not terrorism. It was a democratic protest, led by women.”
As for Kalita, she said that people were being made to languish in jail for raising their voices against the government. “It shows the desperation of the government… We are women who are not scared of them. They are trying to suppress the voice of people and dissent. We got a lot of support from people which helped us survive inside (jail),” Kalita was quoted as saying.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday had slammed the Centre’s Narendra Modi government for arresting the anti-CAA protesters under charges of terrorism saying that this was an attempt to suppress dissent. The court had also made scathing observations against the Centre while granting bail to Asif Iqbal Tanha, Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita.