Well-known scientist and a senior member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Mahavir Narwal, whose daughter Pinjra Tod activist Natasha Narwal was jailed last year, died of coronavirus on Sunday. Natasha has been granted interim bail of three-week by the Delhi High Court on Monday to conduct the last rites of her father.
Natasha was booked under the severe Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and has remained lodged at New Delhi's Tihar Jail since May last year. She was arrested for her alleged 'premeditated conspiracy' in the northeast Delhi riots in February that year.
Sources close to Natasha’s family said, "Mahavir Narwal was not able to speak to his daughter who is in jail. His son, Aakash, who is also COVID-19 positive, was there with him in Rohtak.”
Recently, Left activists and civil society groups have demanded that "political prisoners" be released, given the Covid surge.
As soon as Mahavir Narwhal’s death news came out messages of condolence started pouring on Twitter.
Activist Harsh Mander consoled Mahavir Narwal's death. "Where there's suffering, my daughter will be there. I'm proud of her''. This hero, Mahavir Narwal, father of Natasha in jail for the CAA protests, supports her, with courage hard to find. 'I hope she's not in jail so long she doesn't see my face". He died just hours ago of Covid (sic)," he tweeted.
"Extend my deep condolences to Natasha and her brother Aakash. The terrible injustice of the system in which a daughter wrongly locked up for a year unable to see her father even for a final farewell," CPI-M politburo member Brinda Karat said.
While granting interim release to Natasha Narwal, the Delhi high court bench noted that the hospital where her father breathed his last, has kept his body, waiting for Natasha to return and receive the same. There is no one else in the family to perform the last rites and cremation, the court noted, highlighting that Natasha's brother Aakash is in isolation himself.
"Given the circumstances elaborated here, and in the interest of justice, we are of the view that the release of the applicant is imperative in this hour of grief and personal loss and the facts and circumstances of the case," the Delhi high court bench said.
The Delhi police didn’t oppose the bail, however, Natasha has been asked to submit a personal bond of ₹50,000 to the satisfaction of the jail superintendent and her phone number to be given to the SHO special cell of the Delhi Police and the Rohtak Police, under whose jurisdiction the last rites of Mahavir Narwal are to be performed.
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Moreover, Natasha was also ordered not to "tweet anything" and to keep silent for the duration of her interim bail.