SC says activists' bail will stay; but interpretation of UAPA by Delhi HC may need review
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New Delhi: The bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and V Ramasubramanian of the Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to student activists Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Asif Iqbal Tanha regarding the petition filed by the Delhi Police challenging the bail granted by the Delhi High Court, LiveLaw reported. The three have been granted four weeks time to respond.
However, the vacation bench however made it clear that it is not interfering with the release of the accused on bail although Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought the same. .
While expressing surprise at the 100 pages judgement narrowing down the scope of UAPA in a bail application, the bench noted that the apex court might probably need to re-examine the interpretation of UAPA by the HC. Reading down of anti-terror law is an important issue and may have pan-India ramifications, the court said, and hence, the verdict could not be treated as a precedent to be relied on by any party before any court.
The Delhi Police moved the Supreme Court on Thursday after the Delhi HC granted bail to the three students charged with UAPA and in jail for more than a year for their alleged involvement in the Delhi riots case.
