Delhi riots case: Gulfisha Fatima walks out of Tihar after court order, gets emotional meeting her family

Gulfisha Fatima, one of the accused in the conspiracy case of the 2020 North-East Delhi riots, walked out of Tihar jail late on Wednesday, 7 January, night hours after a Delhi court issued her release orders following her bail by the Supreme Court.

The other three accused, for whom release orders were issued on Wednesday morning, are also expected to be released from jail soon after completing all procedural formalities.

Earlier in the day, a Delhi court, as per the Supreme Court's directions, ordered the release of the four accused after they furnished bail bonds of Rs 2 lakh each and produced two local sureties. The fifth accused, who was granted bail by the Supreme Court on 5 January, did not appear in court to furnish the bail bond.

The court noted that all bail conditions had been complied with and release orders were passed after the Delhi Police submitted verification reports of the sureties and documents.

In the same case the Supreme Court on 5 January refused to grant relief to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, finding that a prima facie case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was made out against them, but granted bail to five others accused of citing the sequence of their involvement.

In Fatima's case, the court observed that she did not have independent command, resource control, or strategic oversight at multiple protest sites during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The court said, "The allegation that Gulfisha Fatima organised local women and coordinated the arrangements at the protest site, while relevant to the prosecution's case, does not establish that she exercised independent command, resource control, or strategic oversight at multiple protest sites."

The riots erupted in February 2020 during protests against the CAA and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in northeast Delhi, resulting in 53 deaths and more than 700 injuries.

(With PTI Inputs)