Delhi Violence: Court Seeks Police Reply on Pinjra Tod Members' Plea for Monitored Probe

A Delhi court Thursday sought reply of the police on an application filed by Pinjra Tod members and JNU students Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal, booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, seeking court monitored investigation in a case related to communal violence in north east Delhi in February.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana directed the investigating officer to file the reply on the plea by July 14.

Kalita and Narwal have been arrested in the case under the anti-terror law for allegedly being part of a "premeditated conspiracy" in connection to the riots in northeast Delhi during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in February.

Besides Kalita and Narwal, Jamia Millia Islamia students Asif Tanha and Gulfisha Khatoon, former Congress Councillor Ishrat Jahan, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, Meeran Haider, President of Jamia Alumni Association Shifa-Ur-Rehman, suspended AAP Councillor Tahir Hussain, activist Khalid Saifi, and former JNU student leader Umar Khalid have also been booked under the "anti-terror law" in the case. Umar Khalid has not been arrested in the case yet.

The police alleged in the FIR that Umar and his associates had instigated people to start riots in the area and it was a "premeditated conspiracy".

Communal clashes had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 after violence between citizenship law's supporters and protesters spiralled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.

Pinjra Tod (Break the Cage) was founded in 2015 with an aim to make hostels and paying guest accommodations less restrictive for women students.

In 2015, Jamia Millia Islamia University had issued a notice restricting female students to stay out after 8 pm.

When the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) questioned the Jamia administration on it, a group of women students decided to protest against the restrictions not only in Jamia but other universities in Delhi.

Later named as Pinjra Tod, the group mobilised people around several issues faced by female residents of hostels and PGs.