The Delhi High Court on Friday allowed activist and researcher Natasha Narwal, who spent over a year in custody before securing bail in the alleged larger conspiracy case linked to the 2020 Delhi riots, to travel to the United Kingdom for academic purposes.
Narwal, a PhD scholar, sought permission to visit the UK from November 2 to December 1 to attend an academic conference and undertake research.
Justice Amit Bansal directed the trial court to release Narwal’s passport and ordered that any pending lookout circular against her remain suspended during the permitted travel period.
The court noted that her academic commitments at a UK university required her physical presence to present her research.
“The court is inclined to permit the petitioner to travel to the UK with suitable safeguards. The petitioner would be permitted to travel to the UK from November 2 to December 1,” it said.
Narwal and her brother were asked to submit written undertakings that she would return to India and would not seek asylum in the UK. She was also directed to furnish personal bonds of ₹50,000 each in two -related cases.
The court further directed her to surrender her passport within 48 hours of returning to India and refrain from commenting on the merits of the pending cases during her UK visit.
named Narwal as an accused in three cases linked to protests during the 2020 northeast Delhi violence. These include the alleged larger conspiracy case, in which she faces charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
She was taken into custody in 2020 and spent over a year in jail before securing bail in 2021.
On February 24, 2020, communal clashes broke out in northeast Delhi after violence between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control, leaving at least 53 people dead and over 700 injured, PTI reported.
Delhi Police accused Narwal, along with Sharjeel Imam, Khalid Saifi, and others, of being among the “masterminds” behind the violence, which took place while US President and other dignitaries were in the national capital.
Narwal, a former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student and women’s rights activist, is a founding member of Pinjra Tod, according to Front Line Defenders. Established in 2015, the collective brings together women students and university alumni across Delhi to oppose restrictive hostel rules, including curfews, and challenge measures that limit women’s freedom of movement in the name of safety.
According to The Polis Project, Narwal grew up witnessing her father’s activism in the teachers’ front of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, which shaped her understanding of struggles for in India.
She moved to Delhi in 2006 to pursue higher education at Delhi University. Her interest in social and political issues led her to join the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), a student organisation aligned with the (Marxist). She contested elections for the posts of president and secretary of the Delhi University Students’ Union as an SFI candidate.
Narwal completed her bachelor’s degree in Modern History at Hindu College and her master’s degree at DU’s History Department. In 2012, she enrolled in an MPhil programme in Development Practice at Dr B. R. Ambedkar University in Delhi, studying tribal communities’ access to land rights in Odisha’s Rayagada district. She completed the programme in 2014.
During a break from her studies, Narwal worked with the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies and the Society for Rural Urban and Tribal Initiative. She also volunteered on research projects, contributed to a documentary about khaps, patriarchal village bodies that wield considerable social influence, and undertook freelance translation work.
She worked as an investigative journalist for Newsclick, while her writing appeared in The Wire and Kafila. In 2018, she joined JNU’s Centre for Historical Studies as a research scholar, beginning doctoral work on the history of Delhi’s women’s movement.
