$~S~

*

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

Date of decision: 15 June 2021

+

CRL.A. 90/2021

DEVANGANA KALITA

..... Appellant

Through:

Mr. Adit S. Pujari, Ms. Tusharika

Mattoo & Mr. Kunal Negi,

Advocates.

versus

STATE OF DELHI NCT

..... Respondent

Through:

Mr. Amit Mahajan, Mr. Amit Prasad

and Mr. Rajat Nair, SPPs for the State

alongwith Mr. Dhruv Pande & Mr.

Shantanu Sharma, Advocates.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SIDDHARTH MRIDUL

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANUP JAIRAM BHAMBHANI

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.

CRL.A. 90/2021

Page of

2021:DHC:1884-DB

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

CRL.A. 90/2021

Page of

2021:DHC:1884-DB

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