Delhi court removes media from virtual hearing on immediate release of Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita

A district court in Delhi today "abruptly" removed media persons from a virtual hearing, LiveLaw reported.

The removal took place when the court was reserving its order in an application filed by Pinjra Tod activists Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita seeking their immediate release from Delhi's Tihar Jail after they were granted bail yesterday in the Delhi riots case.

According to LiveLaw, the court objected to the presence of media persons in the hearing and said, "Who are these people? Who gave them the link? Sorry, this can't be permitted."

The court added that the proceedings were “between the court and the accused” and that media persons could not be “allowed.” It then reserved orders in the plea, LiveLaw noted, as the police sought three days time to verify the addresses of the accused and the sureties furnished by them.

Narwal and Kalita were arrested last year in a case pertaining to the communal violence in northeast Delhi in February 2020. The Delhi police had alleged that they were part of a "larger conspiracy" to defame the Modi government in the violence that followed the citizenship law protests. Both Narwal and Kalita were charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

On Tuesday, in three separate orders, the Delhi High Court granted bail to Narwal, Kalita and Jamia Millia Islamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha who had also been arrested in connection with the case. After the high court order, Bar and Bench reported, the Kakardooma court yesterday deferred passing an order for Narwal and Kalita's immediate release from judicial custody for want for verification of their addresses and sureties.

Earlier today, the Delhi police moved the Supreme Court against the high court's bail order.