The Wire
The former Congress councillor discusses her legal battle, how she survived in the barracks, the discrimination she suffered, and how she overcame it all.
Former Congress councillor Ishrat Jahan was just released on bail after having been in judicial custody for two years after having been charged under the UAPA and several clauses of the Arms Act and Indian Penal Code, in connection with the Delhi riots of 2020.
Jahan discusses her legal battle, how she survived in the barracks, the discrimination she suffered, and how she overcame it all.
Jahan’s lawyer Pradeep Teotia has said that this bail order clears the way for her release from judicial custody.
New Delhi: A Delhi sessions court has granted bail to Ishrat Jahan in a Unlawful Activities Prevention Act case, an order which could pave the way for her release from judicial custody.
Jahan, a former Congress councillor, has been jailed since February 26, 2020, over what Delhi police has claimed is her connection with the riots in northeast Delhi. She was arrested from an anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protest site in New Delhi’s Khajuri Khas.
Bar and Bench has reported that the bail was granted by Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat of the Karkardooma Court. The UAPA case is against the infamous FIR 59/2020 which names several activists, lawyers and students.
The case alleges a larger conspiracy behind the riots and claims made by police within it have been challenged by findings of the media, including The Wire, and other quarters.
The FIR contains stringent charges not only under the UAPA but also the Indian Penal Code, the Arms Act and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
Orders on the bail pleas of three other accused in the same case, Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and Saleem Khan, have been deferred to March 21 and 22, LiveLaw has reported.
Jahan is also named as accused in another case over anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests in northeast Delhi and has already got bail in that case. Her lawyer Pradeep Teotia has told Indian Express that with no pending cases against her, this latest bail clears the way for her release from judicial custody.
Teotia told the court that Jahan is a lawyer and a young person in politics. “I was victorious from a ward where Muslims are less in number…She was a popular lady. They have no single iota of evidence regarding her involvement in the conspiracy.”
The prosecution sought to establish that the Delhi riots were the result of a “premeditated conspiracy” and that “whoever does whatever singular act as a part of criminal conspiracy will be responsible for others’ act.”
It argued that the Khureji Khas anti-CAA protest site was engineered by the Jamia Coordination Committee, with whom Jahan was in touch. It also sought to establish that Jahan was in touch with Sharjeel Imam through a WhatsApp group.
Jahan is the sixth person accused in this UAPA case who has been granted bail. Earlier, courts gave bail to Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, Jamia Asif Iqbal Tanha, Safoora Zargar and Faizan Khan.
Granting bail to Narwal, Kalita and Tanha, the court had said the state had blurred the line between the right to protest and terrorist activity in anxiety to suppress dissent.
In 2021, a court had told a prosecutor who sought more time to investigate the case against Jahan that he “cannot talk in the air”.
Jahan’s stay in jail was marked by repeated bail rejections.
In 2020, a Delhi court denied interim bail to her in spite of her counsel noting that she had suffered spinal injuries after a fall in Mandoli jail. She had approached the court for bail citing medical issues and the COVID-19 outbreak in Mandoli prison.
The Union government’s affidavit notes that Asthana’s experience in heading an “investigating agency/paramilitary security force” was required for Delhi’s “specific and special” requirement, which has “international implications”.
New Delhi: In its affidavit filed with the Delhi high court in a plea which challenged the appointment of Rakesh Asthana as the Delhi Commissioner of Police, the Union government held that the appointment was made in “public interest” as “no individual with the specific experience of handling other investigating agencies or paramilitary forces was available.
The plea, filed by one Sadre Alam through advocate B.S. Bagga, challenged the June 27 order which appointed Asthana to the post, LiveLaw reported.
Also read: Plea in Delhi HC Challenges Rakesh Asthana’s Appointment as Delhi Police Commissioner
The Union government’s affidavit said that Asthana’s appointment was necessary since Delhi, being the national capital, has a “specific and special requirement” and has faced “extremely challenging public order problems” which have an “international implication”.
Thus, the government noted, the appointment of an “experienced officer” who had the “multifarious experience of heading a police force in any large state/central investigation agency/paramilitary security force” was needed.
Alam’s plea took particular exception to Asthana’s inter-cadre deputation to the post of Delhi police commissioner.
Asthana, who is from the Gujarat cadre of the IPS, was transferred to the cadre for Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram other Union Territories (AGMUT), which also includes Delhi. An inter-cadre deputation such as this requires the formation of a UPSC panel which was not done in Asthana’s case.
Reports have it that Asthana is only the third non-AGMUT cadre officer to have been appointed Delhi police chief.
The Union government addressed this in its affidavit by claiming that no individual with the specific experience of handling other investigating agencies or paramilitary forces was available and thus, the government made the decision to grant Asthana an inter-cadre deputation “in public interest”, PTI reported.
The government said Alam’s petition was a “copy-paste” of another petition pending before the Supreme Court. It described the exercise as a “gross abuse of [the] process of law [which] cannot be brushed aside as plagiarism.”
Prashant Bhushan, whose NGO, the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) had earlier filed a similar plea before the Supreme Court, also described Alam’s petition as an “ambush petition” and one that was “filed in collusion with the government to get dismissal to prevent genuine petitioners from coming forward.”
Also read: Decide in 2 Weeks Plea Against Asthana’s Appointment as Delhi Police Chief: SC to Delhi HC
The CPIL had been granted permission by a Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Surya Kant to move the high court and intervene in Alam’s plea.
Both petitions, CPIL’s and Alam’s, challenged Asthana’s appointment to the post for violating the Supreme Court’s directions as laid out in the case of Prakash Singh vs Union of India.
CPIL’s plea noted that Asthana had a residual tenure of four days when he was appointed, while the stipulated residual tenure needed was six months and that he was appointed for a tenure of one year while the stipulated minimum tenure is two years.
Moreover, the plea noted that Asthana’s appointment violated the Fundamental Rule 56(d) which stipulates that no government servant shall be granted extension in service beyond the age of retirement of sixty years.
Amidst allegations that Asthana is a political appointee, the IPS officer’s career in public service has seen fair share of controversy. His appointment to the CBI in 2017 was challenged by public service NGO Common Cause which had alleged his involvement with Sterling Biotech in 2011, a company which was being probed by the CBI itself for money laundering.
In October, 2018, then-CBI director Alok Verma had ordered the filing of a criminal case against Asthana, who was special director of the agency at the time. Following Verma’s orders, a midnight decision was made by the PMO to remove both individuals from their posts, following which Asthana was made the director-general of the Border Security Force (BSF).
The Wire, as part of the Pegasus Project, had also revealed that both Verma and Asthana’s phone numbers appear on a list possibly accessed by clients of the Israeli NSO Group for the use of the spyware Pegasus. The group claims that it only sells to “vetted governments”.
The RTI application found Kavinder Gupta’s name, along with two others, on a revenue department document that put the land under his occupation from 2010 until 2017.
New Delhi: Kavinder Gupta, the senior BJP leader and former Jammu and Kashmir deputy chief minister, has been found to have been the illegal occupant of government-owned land in the state from 2010 to 2017, the Indian Express reported.
Ironically, Gupta had been a vocal opponent of the Jammu and Kashmir State Land (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, 2001 (also known as the Roshni Act) which proposed transferring the ownership of state land to its illegal inhabitants by charging them market rates – the same land which Gupta has now been found to have occupied.
The Indian Express report noted that the information was obtained through an RTI application filed by advocate Sheikh Shakeel. Answering the enquiry, the Bhalwal tehsildar provided that Gupta, along with Subash Sharma, an independent councillor representing Indira Colony, Janipur in the Jammu Municipal Corporation and Shiv Rattan Gupta, a resident of Indira Colony, jointly occupied the land in question.
The plot – Kharsa No. 1789 – measured up to 23 kanaal, 9 marla and is in the Ghaink village in the Bhalwal tehsil of Jammu (8 kanaal = one acre, one marla = 270 sq ft). The plot, now restored to the government, is a hill with wild growth and no cultivation or construction.
The Kharsa number is a plot number given to a piece of land by the revenue department.
Also read: J&K: 23 BJP Leaders, Workers Killed Since Union Govt’s Article 370 Move
In 2010, a kharsa girdawari (a document from the revenue department which specifies land and crop deals) had been entered in the names of the three individuals. However, this document was cancelled by the Bhalwal tehsildar on February 9, 2017 in accordance with a Jammu and Kashmir high court order which directed the government to void all girdwaris of state land to private individuals.
Kavinder Gupta was, at the time, the mayor of the Jammu Municipal Corporation under the National Conference-Congress coalition government.
Speaking to the Indian Express, Gupta and Sharma both denied having any knowledge of the girdwari or occupying the land.
Bhalwal tehsildar Amit Upadhyay and Ghaink patwari Mohammad Aslam told the newspaper that they did not know how the girdwaris were entered in the names of the three concerned individuals. Upadhyay, however, stated that girdwaris covering state land cannot be entered in an individual’s name unless they are present, in person, to show that the land is occupied by them.
Vehement opposition
The Roshni Act was brought into force by the Farooq Abdullah-led National conference government in 2001 and the funds raised from the divestment of state land to private individuals – estimated to be a sum of Rs. 25,000 crore – was to be used to set up hydel power plants in the state.
However, in 2014, alleging irregularities in the scheme’s implementation, the Vigilance Organisation moved against 20 government officials for misusing their power to make transfers to private individuals. In 2018, then-Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik cancelled all pending applications for land transfers under the Act.
Finally, in October 2020, the Jammu and Kashmir high court nullified the legislation ab initio (from its inception) and ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the matter.
Ironically, in the run-up to the District Development Council (DDC) elections held in November 2020, Kavinder Gupta described the Roshni Act as “land jihad” and described government action taken against the legislation as a “surgical strike” against the corrupt officials who made land transfers for their own benefit.
Trudeau spoke after visiting Governor General Mary Simon, the representative of head of state Queen Elizabeth, to formally request the dissolution of Parliament.
Ottawa: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday called an early election for September 20, saying he needed a new mandate to ensure voters approved of his Liberal government’s plan to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trudeau, 49, is betting that high vaccination rates against the virus and a post-pandemic economic rebound will help him prolong and strengthen his grip on power. Newly-released data shows 71% of the country’s eligible population is fully vaccinated.
The election comes at a “pivotal, consequential moment” for Canada, Trudeau said.
“We will be taking decisions that will last not just for the coming months but for the coming decades. Canadians deserve their say. That’s exactly what we’re going to give them,” he told reporters.
Trudeau spoke after visiting Governor General Mary Simon, the representative of head of state Queen Elizabeth, to formally request the dissolution of Parliament.
Polls suggest the Liberals will win their third consecutive election but may not regain a majority in the 338-seat House of Commons. Trudeau currently has only a minority of seats, leaving him reliant on other parties to govern.
Nationally, Liberals would win 35% of the vote, compared with 30% for the main opposition Conservative Party and 19% for the left-leaning New Democrats, a Leger Marketing poll showed on Aug. 12.
The leader of the Conservatives, Erin O’Toole, criticized Trudeau for calling an election as the country faces a fourth wave of COVID-19, saying it undermines the efforts Canadians took to fight the pandemic.
“We shouldn’t be risking that for political games or political gain,” O’Toole told reporters.
The Liberals spent heavily on subsidies to businesses and individuals to limit the damage from COVID-19, sending both the national debt and budget deficits to record highs.
The Conservatives and New Democrats have in recent days condemned the idea of an early election, saying there was no need for it and describing the call as a power grab.
“This is a really important moment,” Trudeau said when asked repeatedly why he was calling an election during a pandemic.
He said some Conservative legislators had described as “tyrannical” the government’s push to make vaccinations mandatory for federally regulated industries.
“The answer to tyranny is to have an election,” he said.
The right-of-center Conservatives, the Liberals’ biggest rivals, say spending will increase if Trudeau wins again, leaving generations of Canadians hobbled by debt.
With a parliamentary majority, Trudeau would have a free hand to follow through on his stated policy priorities of fighting climate change and supporting those who suffered most during the pandemic.
Also read: Statues of Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth Toppled in Canada
“Our planet and our future are at stake. So I need you alongside me in this fight,” he said on Sunday.
Nanos Research pollster Nik Nanos said the Liberals had no choice but to go to the polls now, noting that the longer they wait, the more risk they face of a fourth wave of the coronavirus.
“They see a window and they’re going to shoot for that window before the bad news comes out, before there’s another variant or before the bill shows up for the full cost of fighting the pandemic,” he said in an interview.
The Bank of Canada last month painted an optimistic picture of growth heading into the second half of the year.
But the bond market already is signalling that the pace of Canada’s economic growth could slow as Delta variant cases rise in the United States, its largest trading partner, and in some other major export markets.
‘Risky situation’
Trudeau, the son of longtime former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, first won a majority in 2015. But in the 2019 election, after decades-old black face pictures surfaced, he came up short of a majority.
Another minority administration would leave him likely relying once more on the New Democrats, who favor even heavier spending on social programs. It would also raise questions about Trudeau‘s future as the leader of his party.
Trudeau repeatedly refused to say on Sunday if he would resign as leader if he does not secure a majority in the vote.
Without a strong opponent to rail against in this election, as the main opposition Conservatives struggle, the Liberals fear the vote may fragment and hand them yet another minority government.
Some Liberals question the need for an early election, saying that although Trudeau had complained about obstructionism from opposition parties, he managed to pass most of the legislation the Liberals proposed.
“It’s a risky situation to go the polls when you don’t have to,” said Peter Donolo, a political strategist at Hill+Knowlton Strategies and communications director for former Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien.
(Reuters)
Early this year, the US had put India in Level 4, asking its citizens not to travel to India.
Washington: The US eased its travel advisory for India on Monday, lowering it to Level 2: Moderate.
The new travel advisory of Level 2 which is considered as safe came in the wake of the significant improvement in COVID situation in India.
Early this year, the US had put India in Level 4, asking its citizens not to travel to India, which at that point of time was experiencing an unprecedented second wave of COVID-19.
The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has now issued a Level 2 Travel Health Notice for India due to COVID-19, indicating a moderate level of COVID-19 in the country.
“Your risk of contracting COVID-19 and developing severe symptoms may be lower if you are fully vaccinated with an FDA authorised vaccine. Before planning any international travel, please review the CDC’s specific recommendations for vaccinated and unvaccinated travellers, the State Department said.
At the same time, the State Department urged Americans not to travel to Jammu and Kashmir (except the eastern Ladakh region and its capital, Leh) due to terrorism and civil unrest.
They have also been advised not to travel within 10 km of the India-Pakistan border due to the potential for armed conflict.
The parents have submitted that they belong to the poorest section of society and are illiterate and are under the force and influence of various groups with vested interest.
New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Tuesday, August 17, sought a report from the police on the status of investigation into the alleged rape and murder of a nine-year-old Dalit girl here.
It was informed that an SIT has been set up to probe the case.
Justice Yogesh Khanna, who was hearing a plea by the parents of the deceased girl for constituting a special investigation team (SIT) for a court-monitored probe, directed the police to file the status report before the next of hearing on November 8.
Status report be filed so as to know the stage of the investigation, the judge said.
Standing counsel Sanjay Lao, appearing for State, said that an SIT has already been constituted after the case was transferred from the local police station to Crime Branch.
“DCP, Crime Branch has constituted the SIT. There are two ACPs. The prayer has been fulfilled, Lao said as he informed the probe was being monitored by the high-ranking officials of Delhi Police.
He added that two accused persons have admitted to the crime and provisions for alleged commission of offences of murder and rape under the Indian Penal Code, section 6 under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 have been added to the FIR.
Also read: What the Law Says about Rahul Gandhi Sharing a Photo of His Meeting with Rape Victim’s Parents
Round-the-clock security has also been provided to the parents, Lao informed the court.
With regards the parents’ prayer to initiate a judicial inquiry into the administrative lapses in the case, Lao contended that the same could be considered only after the conclusion of the investigation.
The court observed that in view of the State’s stand, the prayers in the petition seemed to have been answered.
The investigation is at a nascent stage. We can’t direct judicial inquiry at this stage, the judge stated.
When they have constituted the SIT, let them do their work. You can’t presuppose (the outcome), the court observed during the hearing.
The court nonetheless directed that a status report be filed before the disposal of the petition.
In their plea, the parents of the deceased child have stated that they have no faith in the present investigation which has now been transferred to the crime branch of the Delhi Police.
What type of SIT has been constituted? Nine days after the incident, police moved the application of custodial interrogation of the accused. What is this type of investigation by the so-called SIT?, questioned advocate Jitendra Kumar Jha, appearing for the parents.
The plea further sought adequate safety and security to them as well as the other witnesses in the case along with judicial inquiry into the lapses on the administrative front in the case in order to reveal the reason behind the delay in police response and “why no vital evidence was preserved”.
They alleged that the total focus of the police was to hush up/sabotage the case and that the parents were tortured and pressurised by the police and its agent to compromise the case .
The delay in registration of FIR that too under diluted offences itself indicates the police did not want to give justice, said the petition.
The parents have submitted that they belong to the poorest section of society and are illiterate and are under the force and influence of various groups with vested interest.
The minor Dalit girl died under suspicious circumstances on August 1 even as her parents alleged that she was raped, murdered and cremated by a crematorium’s priest in southwest Delhi’s Old Nangal village.
(PTI)
The Committee to Protect Journalists said that it is deeply concerned for the safety of hundreds of local journalists and media workers who could be targeted by the emerging Taliban regime.
New York: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said the US has a special responsibility to do more to ensure the safety of vulnerable Afghan journalists, including providing emergency visas, emphasising that to understand what is happening in Afghanistan will depend on the survival of what was once a thriving independent press.
In a press statement on Monday, CPJ said that it is deeply concerned for the safety of hundreds of local journalists and media workers who could be targeted by the emerging Taliban regime.
Last month, the Taliban killed Pulitzer Prize-winning Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui, who worked for the Reuters news agency, while he was covering a clash between the Taliban and Afghan security forces in southern Kandahar province.
Taliban insurgents swept Kabul on Sunday after the US-backed Afghan government collapsed and President Ghani fled the country, bringing an unprecedented end to a two-decade campaign in which the US and its allies had tried to transform the war-ravaged nation.
According to Khaama news, since the Taliban entered Kabul, Afghanistan National Radio and Television RTA stopped its live broadcasting and the staff was sent home, the security guards of Shamshad TV and TOLO TV were disarmed and the latter has no live broadcast and programmes.
The Taliban claim to be in charge of securing the facilities of the channels thus, there is no need to keep armed guards at gates, the news report said.
CPJ said that the US must do more to ensure the safety of Afghan journalists as the county falls under the control of the Taliban, including facilitating safe passage out of the country and providing emergency visas.
The United States has a special responsibility to Afghan journalists who created a thriving and vibrant information space and covered events in their country for international media, said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon.
Also Read: Indian Embassy Staff, Including Ambassador, Evacuated From Kabul
The international community’s understanding of what is happening in Afghanistan will depend on the survival of what was once a thriving independent press, even if much of the reporting takes place from exile, Simon said, adding the local knowledge of Afghan journalists cannot be replaced.”
The Biden administration can and should do all within its power to protect press freedom and stand up for the rights of the vulnerable Afghan reporters, photographers, and media workers, he said.
Afghan journalists working with leading US publications – The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal – have been unable to board a flight out of the country, the statement said.
CPJ is an American independent non-profit, non-governmental organisation, based in New York, with correspondents around the world. It promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists.
The organisation has registered and vetted the cases of nearly 300 journalists who are attempting to reach safety, and there are hundreds more whose cases are under review, the statement said.
Due to the deteriorating security situation at the Kabul airport, only a handful have been able to board a flight to the US or a third country where their visa requests can begin being processed. The vast majority of threatened journalists remain in hiding, it said.
CPJ has long advocated globally for emergency visas for journalists at risk precisely to avoid temporary or improvised responses when new threats emerge.
Till now, the organisation has registered and vetted 45 high priority cases of Afghan journalists in which the threat from the Taliban is clear and imminent.
Many are female journalists whose record of reporting on women’s rights has exacerbated the risk. The organisation has also registered and vetted 127 other cases of Afghan media members who face significant risk, along with 119 journalists affiliated with US news organisations, the statement said.
CPJ’s list of cases does not take into account family members who would also be eligible for relocation. Over the last 24 hours, it has received an additional 475 email requests for assistance, which are undergoing review.
In Afghanistan, at least 53 journalists have been killed since 2001, and five were killed last year alone, it said.
Requests for help from Afghan journalists have been coming in to CPJ since the start of the year and have increased as the US and NATO troop withdrawal drew nearer and Taliban militants expanded control over the country, the statement said.
Malala was shot at by the local Taliban militants in December 2012 for her female education campaign in the Swat Valley in northeastern Pakistan.
London: Shocked at the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, Pakistani activist and the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai has said she is “deeply worried” for women, minorities and human rights advocates living in the strife-torn country.
The 24-year-old rights activist, who was shot in the head by Taliban militants in 2012 in Pakistan’s Swat region for her campaign for the education of girls, urged global and regional powers to call for an immediate ceasefire and provide help to civilians in Afghanistan.
“We watch in complete shock as [the] Taliban takes control of Afghanistan. I am deeply worried about women, minorities and human rights advocates,” she tweeted on Sunday.
“Global, regional and local powers must call for an immediate ceasefire, provide urgent humanitarian aid and protect refugees and civilians,” wrote Malala, who now lives in the UK.
The longstanding war in Afghanistan reached a watershed moment on Sunday when the Taliban insurgents closed in on Kabul before entering the city and took over the presidential palace, forcing embattled President Ashraf Ghani to join fellow citizens and foreigners to flee the country.
Taliban insurgents began moving towards Kabul following the overnight collapse of the two remaining cities of Mazar-e-Sharif and Jalalabad.
Malala was shot at by the local Taliban militants in December 2012 for her female education campaign in the Swat Valley in northeastern Pakistan.
Severely wounded, she was airlifted from one military hospital in Pakistan to another and later flown to the UK for treatment. Following the attack, the Taliban released a statement saying that they would target Malala again if she survived.
At age 17, Malala became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for her education advocacy in 2014 when she shared the coveted honour with India’s social activist Kailash Satyarthi.
Unable to return to Pakistan after her recovery, the famed activist moved to Britain, setting up the Malala Fund and supporting local education advocacy groups with a focus on Pakistan, Nigeria, Jordan, Syria and Kenya.
She began her campaign aged just 11, when she started writing a blog for the BBC’s Urdu service in 2009 about life under the Taliban in Swat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where they were banning girls’ education.
Malala completed her degree in philosophy, politics and economics from the prestigious Oxford University in June last year.
In 2007, the Islamist militants had taken over the area and imposed a brutal rule. Opponents were murdered, people were publicly flogged for supposed breaches of the sharia law, women were banned from going to market, and girls were stopped from going to school.
The Taliban, who are opposed to the education of girls, have destroyed hundreds of schools in Pakistan.
The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, but following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, the brutal regime of the militant group came to an end as they were removed from power by US-led forces in 2001.
The group, however, has been on the offensive in recent months and has now seized power again.
Jahan’s counsel had concluded his arguments on her bail plea on July 23 and the SPP was slated to argue before the court today.
New Delhi: A court here on Monday adjourned the hearing on the bail application of former Congress Councillor Ishrat Jahan in the Delhi riots conspiracy case till August 20, after the prosecutor sought more time and said that he “cannot talk in the air”.
Jahan has been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the case, along with other activists, lawyers and students. She was arrested on February 26, 2020.
Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad, who represents Delhi Police and was slated to argue on the bail plea today, sought an adjournment from Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat stating that he needs more time to prepare the case.
Advocate Pradeep Teotia, appearing for Jahan, objected to the adjournment request and apprised ASJ Rawat that the matter is pending for the last six months.
“I cannot argue like you. I need to be fully prepared. I cannot talk in the air,” the prosecutor told advocate Teotia, impelling the judge to intervene and ask them to not fight over petty issues or get “personal with each other.
Jahan’s counsel had concluded his arguments on her bail plea on July 23 and the SPP was slated to argue before the court today. The matter will now be heard on August 20 at 11 am.
Earlier, Jahan, through her lawyer, said that the investigating agency does not have an iota of evidence against her in the conspiracy case. She also asked if it was “wrong to have a political affiliation”.
Besides her, JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, former student leader Umar Khalid, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and several others have also been booked under the anti-terror law.
In June, the Delhi high court had granted bail to Tanha, Narwal, and Kalita in the case, saying the state blurred the line between the right to protest and terrorist activity in anxiety to suppress dissent.
