advertisement
Almost 90 days after an FIR was registered against Pinjra Tod activists Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal, for their alleged role in the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests, they were arrested. Without any indication, from their homes in Delhi, amid the coronavirus pandemic.
For the student activists of Pinjra Tod – a group that was formed in August 2015 to predominantly oppose the patriarchal rules, curfew timings for women students in Delhi’s universities and colleges – the arrest hardly came as a shock.
But there is simmering anger with the new FIR, that implicates Kalita and Narwal for attempt to murder, rioting and criminal conspiracy.
Thirty-year-old Kalita and thirty two-year-old Narwal, currently students of Jawaharlal Nehru University, were among the founding members of Pinjra Tod in 2015. While Kalita is pursuing her MPhil degree at the Centre of Women’s Studies in JNU, Narwal is a PhD student at the Centre for Historical Studies.
On Saturday, 23 May, they were arrested for obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions, in connection with the Jafrabad sit-in protest.
“It was this very protest that prompted BJP leader Kapil Mishra to give a provocative speech, where he demanded that protesters leave at once. Peaceful protests had been going on in Jafrabad for almost 70 days. Then, just says after Mishra’s speech, communal violence broke out in northeast Delhi. No action has been taken against Mishra – but women students who merely protested against draconian laws are put behind bars,” lashed out an undergraduate student of Delhi University and a Pinjra Tod member.
At least 60 people were killed in the northeast Delhi violence that broke out earlier in February.
A Delhi court granted the two activists bail, a day after they were arrested. However, within minutes of the bail being granted, the Special Investigation Team of the Crime Branch moved an application seeking the arrest of the two women again – on charges of attempt to murder, rioting and criminal conspiracy.
She added that the people of India “will not bow down to such repression tactics” and these “tactics” by police will only strengthen the opposition to anti-people policies and sentiments.
Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) – an independent body – called for the release of the activists, stating that their arrest depicts the spectrum of conspiracy against democratic struggle.
Just about a month before Kalita and Narwal were arrested, the Delhi Police held Jamia Millia Islamia student Safoora Zargar in connection with the same Jafrabad sit-in. Zargar, who is pregnant, has been booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and is currently in jail since 10 April.
On 27 April, Delhi president of All India Students Association (AISA) Kawalpreet Kaur took to describe how her phone was seized by the cops, to “investigate” her alleged connection to the Delhi violence. So, are women students being targetted?
A former member of the women’s rights group, who is now working in PR and advertising, said that while women students were being targetted, so were people from the minority communities.
“Anyone who is active, anyone who is challenging them and anyone who is simply speaking out is being criminalised right now to send a larger message to people who are opposing and to send a larger message to the protesters,” she said.
However, beyond the simmering anger, there is also apprehension.
After the news of the arrest of the two women, people took to Twitter demanding that Kalita and Narwal be released immediately, and stating that Pinjra Tod “redefined resistance” by scores of women students.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)
Published: 25 May 2020,09:09 PM IST