A court in New Delhi has rejected the bail plea of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student and Pinjra Tod member Devangana Kalita in a northeast Delhi riots case.
Devangana, who hails from Assam, was booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the Delhi riots case.
The court while rejecting her bail application said the allegations against her are prima facie and provisions of the anti-terror law have been rightly invoked in the case.
The court said the pre-planned vociferous agitation in the name of protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, coupled with other resultant activities of confrontation and violence leading to riots, would show that it was meant to cause or intended to cause disaffection against India.
Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat said in a case of conspiracy of such a large scale, not having a video clip was not so vital as generally, a conspiracy, by its very nature, is hatched in secrecy and not having video clips of such a conspiracy was obvious rather than doubtful, Deccan Chronicle reported.
Kalita was arrested in the case for allegedly being part of a premeditated conspiracy behind the riots.
The court, in its order passed on Thursday, said in a case of conspiracy, the presence of an accused at a site is not sine qua non (essential condition) for establishing his or her role.
“In the present case, the presence of the accused is established over a period of time. Thus, on the perusal of the chargesheet and accompanying documents, for the limited purpose of bail, I am of the opinion that the allegations against accused Devangana Kalita are prima facie true,” the judge said in his order.
Communal violence broke out in northeast Delhi on February 24 last year after clashes between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control, leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.