Student activists Asif Iqbal Tanha, Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita walked out of Tihar jail on Thursday, hours after a Delhi Special court ordered their immediate release in the northeast Delhi riots “conspiracy” case.
The trio activists were granted bail by the Delhi High Court on June 15. They were arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in May last year.
While granting bail to the activists, the Delhi HC on June 15, said, “in an anxiety to suppress dissent, the state has blurred the line between the right to protest and terrorist activity” and if such a mindset gains traction, it would be a “sad day for democracy”.
As the three student activists walked out of jail, they were greeted by slogans and supporters reverberating from all around,
Tanha is a student of Jamia Millia Islamia.
In an interview with Clarion India, he said that the struggle and his friends started inside Jamia against CAA-NRC would go on. “When you live and dedicate your life for a purpose. To help people, no matter where you stay, whether in jail, home or college, masjid or anywhere else, if you believe that you will help people and society for their rights, then it is not difficult at all. Although initially, I faced challenges and problems for a month or two in jail, but they were just timely. Jail gave me a chance to introspect and analyze and prove to people that we can do better work for society.
The biggest protest of CAA-NRC started in Jamia; there was violence and injustice in Jamia, Tanha said “FIRs were registered against Jamians, and I was arrested in those FIR. Later I realized that the movement which was started in Jamia was spread nationwide. I went to many cities and witnessed the voice raised in Jamia continuing in these places. People were protesting, and it was a huge movement after the independence.”
Tanha added that women came forward to lead this movement and spread it across the country, especially the women who were defamed that Muslims don’t give their women freedom and keep them in Pardah.
“This movement was shut down due to covid-19. Delhi police thought if we arrest the activists from Jamia and the other activists working for CAA-NRC and put them behind bars, no one in the country will raise their voice against their black laws and would not question. So the government got us arrested,” he noted.
Tanha said that earlier, many verdicts came which didn’t favor Muslims, and they thought there was no more justice. But now, after this verdict from the judiciary, he added “we have hope that there are people, the judges, who witness the law, merit and they granted us justice.”
The student activist from Jamia, talking to NDTV, said, “when I was in jail, I was beaten very severely, and I could neither sit nor stand. I have tolerated it, but now I have come outside, I have the support of so many people. The government wants to implement CAA NCR NRP, but we will keep protesting against it.”
Tanha concluded that the Delhi police took a campaign against us, but the court has given them the answer. “If I didn’t have hope on the Constitution, then I wouldn’t be standing here. When our Prophet or others started the movement for independence and faced struggles, it was bigger than ours, so I tolerated this struggle. I was strong and I will be strong.”
