J U D G M E N T

ANUP JAIRAM BHAMBHANI J.

Introduction The appellant, Devangana Kalita, is a student pursuing the M.Phil.-

Ph.d. Programme in the Department of Women’s Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, having completed her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in English from Miranda House College, Delhi University and Master of Arts degree in Gender & Development at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, United Kingdom.

2. The appellant has preferred the present appeal under section 21(4) of the National Investigation Agency Act 2008 (‘NIA Act’, for short) impugning order dated 28.01.2021 made by the learned Special Court rejecting the appellant’s bail application in case FIR No. 59/2020 dated 06.03.2020 (‘subject FIR’, for short) registered initially under sections 147 / 148 / 149 / 120-B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (‘IPC’, for short) at P.S.: Crime Branch, New Delhi, to which offences under sections 109 / 114 / 124A / 153A / 186 / 201 / 212 / 295 / 302 / 307 / 341 /353 / 395 / 419 / 420 / 427 / 435 / 436 / 452 / 454 / 468 / 471 / 34 IPC, sections 3 / 4 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984 (‘PDPP Act’, for short), sections 25 / 26 of Arms Act, 1959 and sections 13 / 16 / 17 / 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (‘UAPA’, for short) were subsequently added.

3. The appellant was arrested and is stated to be in custody in the subject FIR since 29.05.2020.

Backdrop & essence of allegations against Appellant

4. The appellant is one of the accused in 04 FIRs, bearing FIR No.

250/2019 dated 21.12.2019 registered at P.S.: Daryaganj; FIR No. 48/2020 dated 24.02.2020 registered at P.S.: Jafrabad; FIR No. 50/2020 dated 26.02.2021 registered at P.S.: Jafrabad; and FIR No. 59/2020 dated 06.03.2020 registered at P.S.: Crime Branch, the last one being the subject FIR in the present appeal. It would be relevant to mention at this point, that the appellant has already been admitted to regular bail in FIR Nos. 250/2019, 48/2020 and 50/2020 vidé orders dated 02.06.2020, 24.05.2020 and 01.09.2020 made by the concerned courts; and is presently in judicial custody only in FIR No.

59/2020, that is in the subject FIR.

5. The essential case alleged by the State against the appellant is that, as part of a women’s rights group called Pinjra Tod (which may loosely be translated as ‘break-free from the cage’, namely from societal shackles), and other activistic groups called the Delhi Protests Support Group (‘DPSG’, for short), the Jamia Coordination Committee (‘JCC’, for short), Warriors, and ‘Auraton ka Inquilab’, the appellant participated in what is described by the State as a ‘larger conspiracy’, to commit certain offences that are subject matter of the subject FIR, which led to violence and rioting in the North-East Delhi between 22.02.2020 and 26.02.2020. These allegations arise from protests, in which the appellant is alleged to have participated, against the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (‘CAA’, for short) passed by Parliament and the exercise undertaken by the Central Government to create a database of citizens called the National Register of Citizens (‘NRC’, for short); and the gravamen of the allegation is that as part of such protests, the appellant along with co-conspirators instigated the local population in certain Muslim dominated areas of Delhi, particularly women, and incited in them feelings of persecution, which subsequently led to violence and rioting.

6. The sequence of the appellant’s arrest in the various cases mentioned above also deserves to be noticed. On 21.05.2020, an investigating team from P.S.: Crime Branch visited the appellant’s residence and served upon her a notice directing her to join investigation. Two days later, that is on 23.05.2020, the appellant was arrested by police officers from P.S.: Jafrabad in FIR No. 48/2020; and upon being produced before the learned Duty Metropolitan Magistrate, the appellant was released on regular bail on 24.05.20