TCN News
The Center for Human Rights of the American Bar Association has condemned the detention of Jamia activist Safoora Zargar, calling it against the standards of international law.
“International law, including treaties to which India is a State party, permit pre-trial detention only under narrow circumstances,” said the Center about Safoora’s custody. It marked that such “narrow circumstances do not appear to have been met in Ms Zargar’s case.”
Safoora, who has been in prison since April 10, was denied bail last week by the Additional Sessions Judge of New Delhi’s Patiala House Court. A PhD student of Jamia Millia Islamia, she is booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 1967 (UAPA), under charges of inciting Delhi violence in February. Concerning her case, the Center noted that according to International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), “it should not be the general rule that persons awaiting trial shall be detained in custody.”
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While the Patiala Court Judge had declared last week that “prima facie evidence has been found against Safoora,” American Bar Association maintained that, “given the lack of evidence in the FIR linking Ms Zargar to acts of violence, it is unclear why alternatives to pre-trial detention were not considered adequate by the court in this case.”
Safoora’s family and her lawyers had requested bail owing to her pregnancy and higher risks of the infection amid the COVID-19, adding that rampant misogynist remarks against her were being run in popular social media in a full-fledged online campaign but she was denied bail a third time. The American Bar Association mentioned these instances and particularly cited the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders (also known as the Bangkok Rules) that concludes “non-custodial means should be preferred for pregnant women during the pre-trial phase wherever that is possible or appropriate.”
Based on international law, the Center for Human Rights has urged the Indian judiciary to “uphold moral and legal obligations given the pandemic and order the immediate release of Ms Zargar.”