New Delhi: In its anxiety to suppress dissent, the State has blurred the line between right to protest and terrorist activity and if such a mindset gains traction, it would be a “sad day for democracy”, the Delhi high court observed on Tuesday while granting bail to three students from Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jamia Millia Islamia arrested over a year ago for the riots that followed protests against the controversial citizenship law.
Terming as “somewhat vague” the definition of a “terrorist act” under the stringent UAPA law and warning against its use in a “cavalier manner”, the high court set aside the trial court orders rejecting bail to JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita and Jamia’s Asif Iqbal Tanha, allowing their appeals and admitting them to regular bail.
“We are of the view that the foundations of our nation stand on surer footing than to be likely to be shaken by a protest, however vicious, organised by a tribe of college…