Who are Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Asif Iqbal Tanha and why they were jailed under UAPA?

Pinjra Tod activists Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Jamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha were released on bail from the high-security Tihar Jail late on Thursday. They have vowed to continue their struggle against the oppressive government.

NEW DELHI: After spending nearly a year in jail, Pinjra Tod activists Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Jamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha were released on bail from the high-security Tihar Jail late on Thursday.

They were released after getting bail in the northeast Delhi riots conspiracy case. Soon after walking out of the jail, they vowed to continue their struggle. The release of the trio, who were arrested in May last year under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), came after a lower court order.

Natasha Narwal

Natasha Narwal is a student and a women human rights activist. She is also one of the founding members of the Pinjra Tod, a grouping of women students and university alumni from across Delhi, who seek to fight against oppressive forces, restrictions imposed on female students and a plethora of other social issues.

Narwal is closely associated with Pinjda Tod, since it was founded in 2015 to protest against the hostel restrictions for women in Delhi colleges. She is a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Natasha Narwal’s father, Mahavir, a retired senior scientist from the Haryana Agricultural University, was a senior member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M). 

In 2020, Narwal was arrested on May 24 for allegedly engaging in “premeditated conspiracy” in the northeast Delhi riots of February 2020. She was booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. 

She was protesting against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act proposed by the central government.

Devangana Kalita

Devangana Kalita is an MPhil student from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi. Devangana grabbed eyeballs in 2020 after she took part in various anti-CAA & NRC protests in Delhi and NCR following which she was arrested in May 2020 and charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Devangana had been very inclined towards student politics during her days at Miranda House, University of Delhi. She had contested the student council elections as an independent candidate and got elected as the student council vice president of the university. She regularly took part in various protests related to safety and social issues both inside and outside the university campus.

After her graduation from Miranda House, the University of Delhi in 2010, Devangana interned at the Seva Mandir, an NGO based in Udaipur. Thereafter, she moved to the UK to pursue a master’s course in Gender and Development from the University of Sussex. In 2015, she enrolled at JNU to pursue a second master’s degree in History. In JNU, she started taking part in various events and indulged in a campaign in Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) University to create awareness about menstrual hygiene.

Like Natasha Narwal, Devangana had also been vocal in her criticism of hostel curfew hours since her days at Miranda House woman’s college. In August 2015, she, along with her friends, started a Facebook page “Pinjra Tod: Break the Hostel Locks.” This was a protest against the Jamia Milia Islamia Administration’s new rule that changed the return time to the hostel for girls from 10 pm to 8 pm. 

Later, Pinjra Tod movement, which initially began to protest against the curfew hours, went on to expand its fight in support of gender equality and against a plethora of other social issues.

Asif Iqbal Tanha

Iqbal Tanha is a 25-year-old student pursuing his final year of the BA (Hons) Persian programme at the Jamia Milia Islamia University. Along with Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, he was also arrested by the Delhi Police in connection with the northeast Delhi riots case and was charged under UAPA.

Tanha is a member of the Students' Islamic Organisation of India. While demanding the release of other prisoners, he also appealed to the government to address the COVID conditions in prison. Tanha also asserted that the fight against the CAA, NRC and the NPR would continue.

All three were given a warm welcome outside the Tihar Jail. Their friends and family members had gathered outside the jail before their release. Pinjra Tod activists Narwal, Kalita and Tanha thanked their friends and well-wishers, many of whom gathered outside the jail, for supporting them during their year-long stay behind bars.

As soon as they walked out of Tihar, they were greeted with slogans of 'Lal Salaam', 'Natasha Zindabad', 'Devangana Zindabad'. Slogans were also raised in memory of Natasha's father, Mahavir Narwal, who succumbed to the coronavirus last month.

Tanha walked out of a separate jail gate. The Jamia Millia Islamia student was wearing a mask, which read 'No CAA, No NRC, No NPR'.

Why were they arrested?

The three student activists were arrested in May 2020 and are accused of being the "masterminds" of the February 2020 violence in North Delhi, which left 53 people dead and more than 200 injured.

The high court, while granting them bail on June 15, had observed that "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 Delhi Police has, however, have moved the Supreme Court, challenging the high court judgement granting them bail in the case.