Hours after her father passed away, Delhi HC grants interim bail to JNU student Natasha Narwal

A day after her father passed away due to COVID-19, Delhi High Court granted interim bail to JNU student and Pinjra Tod activist Natasha Narwal. The bail is for three weeks and Natasha was asked to furnish a personal bond of Rs 50,000 to the satisfaction of the Jail Superintendent.

On Sunday evening, Natasha's father Mahavir Narwal had passed away, owing to COVID-19. The 71-year-old scientist was undergoing treatment for over a week in a hospital in Rohtak, Haryana. For over a year, Natasha was imprisoned in Tihar Jail, charged under the UAPA.

Incidentally, Mahavir was one of the sureties in Natasha's bail application. The other was a professor of JNU, as stated by Natasha's lawyer Aditi Pujari. "In view of the interest of justice, we are of the view that the release of the applicant is imperative in this hour of grief and personal loss and in facts and circumstances of the case," ruled the Delhi HC bench that heard the bail plea. The bench consisted of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anup J Bhambhani. Natasha's brother is also undergoing treatment for COVID currently.

Natasha is the founding member of Pinjra Tod, a student-run organisation that advocated against night curfew for women students in hostels and PG accommodation. Last year, in May, Natasha, along with another founding member of the collective Devangana Kalita were arrested by the Delhi Police, in connection with the Delhi riots. Both of them are PhD scholars in JNU.

According to a PTI report, a source close to the Narwal family said that "Mahavir Narwal was not able to speak to his daughter who is in jail. His son, Aakash, who is also COVID-19 positive, was there with him in Rohtak."