Today marks 3 years of Gulfisha’s painful incarceration under UAPA for daring to raise her voice against the unjust CAA-NRC-NPR. She has been penning beautiful heart wrenching poetry from her prison cell.
Listen to them. Let it sink in. #releasegulfisha pic.twitter.com/Xuk2Nd8ftk

— Natasha Narwal (@natasha_narwal) April 9, 2023

Only last week, a Delhi court had ordered an FIR against Mishra for his role in the riots, based on a complaint filed by Mohammed Ilyas, a property dealer who unsuccessfully tried to get Delhi police to take action against Mishra.

Delhi police took no action against the BJP leader. Instead police filed multiple cases against a range of persons, including student activists, charging them under stringent clauses of the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), 1967. Student leader Umar Khalid is still in jail, as is Sharjeel Imam and Meeran Haider, along with other activists of the movement against the CAA.

Gulfisha was arrested from prison in FIR 50/20 (Crime Branch) on July 28,2020, absurdly charged, along with ten young Muslim boys (many of whom were injured and maimed in the riots) and student activists Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, with the murder of a 19yr old Muslim boy who died on 25th Feb’20 during the riots. She was granted bail in all the other cases besides FIR 59/20 in 2020 itself.

On 15th June 2021, co-accused Devangana Kalita, Natasha Narwal & Asif Iqbal Tanha were granted bail in FIR 59/20 by the Delhi High Court in a historic order which observed that “We are constrained to say, that it appears, that in its anxiety to suppress dissent and in the morbid fear that matters may get out of hand, the State has blurred the line between the constitutionally guaranteed ‘right to protest’ and ‘terrorist activity’.” Subsequently, their bail was challenged by Delhi Police in the Supreme Court. On 2nd May 2023, the Supreme Court upheld Devangana, Natasha and Asif’s bail. It however, directed that the above bail order cannot be “treated as precedent”.

Nonetheless, the SC order granted the possibility of bail on the basis of parity to co-accused in the same case by stating that “If the co-accused is entitled to a plea on parity, that is for him to make and the Court to consider.”

In the light of the Supreme Court order, Gulfisha stood a very strong chance of bail on grounds of parity as her role as alleged by Delhi Police is exactly similar to Devangana and Natasha’s roles. However, as a result of inordinate judicial delays and her bail pending in Delhi High Court for more than two years, Gulfisha continues to languish in prison without any order being pronounced on her bail plea.

Who Is Gulfisha Fatima?

Gulfisha is a resident of Seelampur area of North East Delhi. Her father runs a small grocery store near their home. She is a first generation learner who completed her BA and MA in Urdu literature from Kirori Mal College in Delhi University. She then went on to do an MBA from Institute of Management Education, Ghaziabad. She also worked as a radio jockey at All India Radio (Urdu).

A part of the peaceful and vibrant protests for equal citizenship against CAA-NPR-NRC movement, Gulfisha was amongst the scores of young local Muslim women leaders who emerged from the energy and strength of the movement.

With no prior experiences of engaging or organising protests, Gulfishasoon became a powerful voice of collective assertion and democratic resistance. In the sit-in protest site in Seelampur, she used to regularly hold adult literacy classes for the women who would come to participate in the protest.

Tareekh pe Tareekh: the never-ending hearings for bail

Gulfisha continues to be incarcerated in Tihar Jail for five years now. Her quest for bail in FIR 59/20 has been marked with never-ending adjournments and judicial delays in what has become a complete travesty of justice. Her bail has been listed for hearing 65 times in the Delhi High Court since May 2022 and yet a verdict on her bail plea remains elusive.

In FIR 59/20, Gulfisha applied for bail in the trial court in the second half of 2021.

After a long wait, of several months, she finally received a verdict on 16th March 2022, where the trial court rejected her bail.

Gulfisha applied for bail in Delhi High Court on 1st May 2022. Until date, there has been no verdict on Gulfisha’s bail petition.

After filing for bail in May 2022, Gulfisha’s matter finally came up for hearing in front of special bench of HMJ Siddharth Mridul & HMJ Rajnish Bhatnagar in January 2023 and order was reserved on 13th Feb 2023.

On 2nd May 2023, the Supreme Court upheld the bail granted to three co-accused Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita & Asif Iqbal Tanha by Delhi High Court in the order dated 15th June 2021 and dismissed the SLP filed by Delhi Police. The Supreme Court also directed that the above bail order cannot be “treated as precedent”. It however observed that “If the co-accused is entitled to a plea on parity, that is for him to make and the Court to consider”

On 18th May 2023, Gulfisha filed an application for the above order to be taken on record in her bail plea, seeking parity with Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal. Similar applications were also filed by other co-accused.

For the next four and half months, no hearing took place. Either the bench did not assemble on the date of listing or the matter was adjourned.

On 19th Oct 2023, HMJ Siddharth Mridul was transferred as Chief Justice of Manipur High Court. As a result, Gulfisha’s bail plea was listed for rehearing in front of a new bench, along with the bail applications of multiple other co-accused.

On 1st Nov 2023, Gulfisha’s bail plea along with that of other co-accused was listed in front of the special bench of HMJ Surest Kait and HMJ Manoj Jain.

Finally after 4 months, Gulfisha’s bail was argued on 5th March’24 in front of the aforementioned bench. Arguments from both sides concluded on the same day and the bench indicated that judgement was reserved. However, when the order was uploaded, it was learned that the matter had been kept pending on account of the connected bail pleas of the other co-accused.

On 11th July’24, the Supreme Court collegium recommended the appointment of HMJ Suresh Kait as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir. In light of the imminent transfer, the current bench released Gulfisha’s bail appeal to be listed with connected appeals to a new bench on 29th Aug’24. This is the THIRD time that Gulfisha’s bail would have been argued in the Delhi High Court.

On November 11, 2024, the Supreme Court, comprising a bench of Justices Bela M. Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma, refused to entertain a writ petition filed by Gulfisha Fatima seeking bail in a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 over alleged larger conspiracy behind the 2020 Delhi riots.The Court however requested the Delhi High Court to hear the bail application on the date fixed, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Resistance, Poetry in Prison

Even as she endures a harsh incarceration, Gulfisha retains her indomitable spirit of struggle and her joyous laughter in the face of extreme hardships. Inside prison, she is an important companion for her co-inmates, who come to her to share their troubles, to learn to read and write, to get their applications written, to have their charge-sheets and legal documents explained – the list is endless. Gulfisha used to work in the jail creche teaching the little children who are imprisoned inside with their mothers. Currently, she works with the Pado Padhao programme in prison where she teaches co-inmates basic literacy skills.

Gulfisha has also begun to write very powerful and heart-wrenching poetry to capture the experiences of her incarceration alongwith making beautiful paintings and writing letters to her friends.
———————-

Some links to reports and Gulfisha’s prison poetry, art and letters:

‘These Walls Around Me’: Gulfisha Fatima’s Prison Poetry https://thewire.in/rights/these-walls-around-me-gulfisha-fatimas-prison-poetry

‘Days Become Like A Ladder’: Gulfisha Fatima’s Letters from Prison https://thewire.in/rights/days-become-like-a-ladder-gulfisha-fatimas-letters-from-prison

Free Gulfisha (with footage of Gul’s speeches at the protest site) :

Gulfisha Fatima is an example of courage and bravery. Break you silence. Speak up for her. #freegul #freeallpoliticalprisoners pic.twitter.com/RAupoj6zNy

— Safoora Zargar (@SafooraZargar) October 8, 2021

The post Gulfisha Fatima: A saga of arrest and re-arrest appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Yet within the prison walls, Gul has carved her resistance in verses. Her poetry—tender, defiant, searing—brings to life the emotional toll of incarceration and the enduring strength of a political prisoner. Her words, scribbled in captivity, travel far beyond the bars, echoing through classrooms, protests, and social media feeds, carried by those who refuse to let her be silenced.

The Free Gulfisha Campaign this April 2025 is not merely a show of solidarity—it is a collective cry for justice. From April 9 to April 16, people are being called upon to read her poems aloud, post them on social media, organise readings in homes and classrooms, and remind the world that Gul’s voice cannot be smothered by concrete walls.

In Forgetting, she writes with aching clarity:

“I forget now almost– everything
but remember only the dates”

What she once forgot in history exams—dates—have now become haunting markers of delay, denial, and abandonment. Court dates, bail hearings, the passing of time—each one a reminder of a state that refuses to hear her.

In These walls around me, she personifies her prison cell:

“Finally! one day, these burdened walls collapse
and erected in their place are new silenced walls”

It is a poem of quiet devastation—a recognition of how the system silences resistance, again and again, by replacing the broken with the mute, and the rebellious with the subjugated.

Her poetry is not just about her pain. It is about love, longing, and refusal. In My love, she writes of an internal duality: one heart yearning for closeness, the other forced to reject even the memory of it. In Listen Faiz, she speaks to the legendary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, connecting her solitary wait with his own in prison:

“The difference between
Your wait and mine
Is just
The appointed time”

Every line is a thread tying her to the tradition of poets and political prisoners whose words outlive their bars.

Gulfisha’s case is a microcosm of a larger cruelty—the systematic criminalisation of dissent, the silencing of Muslim voices, and the state’s weaponisation of law. She was targeted not just because she protested, but because she was articulate, educated, fearless—a young Muslim woman who would not bow.

As she wrote in In the darkness of last night:

“the tears of fragile rain…
raised an uproar of complaints
…the oppressed remained
in the darkness of last night…”

Because remembering Gul is not just an act of solidarity—it is an act of resistance against a system that feeds on silence.

Related:

MBA graduate and activist, Gulfisha Fatima awaits justice

More than 1100 days in prison: Gulfisha Fatima awaits bail

Delhi Violence: Court dismisses Gulfisha Fatima, Tasleem Ahmed’s bail pleas

Delhi Violence case: Gulfisha Fatima completes 18 months of incarceration

Delhi violence: Jailed activist Gulfisha Fatima accuses Delhi Police of diversionary tactics

Gulfisha Fatima alleges harassment, court asks jail to change staff if needed

The post “Par yaad rehti bas tareekh”: Five years of Gul’s un-freedom appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Passing the quashing order of the cognizance taken by the trial court and the proceedings that had emancipated from the same, the high court bench of Justice Navin Chawla clarified that the respondent has been permitted by the court a fresh complaint if necessary. As per a report in LiveLaw, the bench had stated “However, it is made clear that the respondent shall be at liberty to file a fresh complaint, if so advised. In case such complaint is filed, the same would be considered in accordance with law.”

It is essential to note that judgment in the said case had been reserved on February 2, 2024.

Brief information about the case:

As per the FIR filed by the Delhi Police against Hashmi was registered in 2020 under Section 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. Allegations raised against her were that in a video that had surfaced on Hashmi’s social media account on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), she could be seen walking with banners against the CAA along with some other individuals. As per the FIR, Hashmi was found holding the banner.

Arguments raised in the court:

Advocates Soutik Banerjee and Devika Tulsiani, representing Hashmi in the said case, submitted that in terms of Section 195 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), cognizance for an offence under Section 188 of IPC can be only be taken on a complaint made in writing by the concerned Public Servant or some other Public Servant to whom he is administratively subordinate. It was further submitted by the counsels that cognizance could not be taken of the Final Report.

On the other hand, Additional Public Prosecutor Aman Usman, representing the State, had argued that the learned Metropolitan Magistrate could have taken cognizance not only of the Final Report but also of the document attached thereto.

Observations made by the Court:

Based on the submissions of by both the parties, Justice Chawla perused Section 195(1) of CrPC, Justice Chawla said that a court can take cognizance of any offence punishable under Section 188 of the IPC only on the complaint in writing of the Public Servant concerned or some other Public Servant to whom he is administratively subordinate.

As per the LiveLaw report, the bench stated “The present petition presents similar facts as the above cases. In the present case also, the FIR was registered alleging violation of the Prohibitory Order…issued under Section 144 of the CrPC by the ACP Dwarka. However, on completion of investigation, instead of filing a complaint in terms of Section 195 CrPC, the Final Report was filed before the learned Metropolitan Magistrate, and the learned Metropolitan Magistrate vide order dated 08.10.2021, took cognizance of this Final Report.”

The bench further added that “In the present case, there is no challenge to the registration of FIR. The challenge is to the order passed by the learned Metropolitan Magistrate taking cognizance of the Final Report, which is not a complaint under Section 195 CrPC.”

With this, the bench of Justice Chawla quashed the order of the trial court and permitted the respondents to file a fresh case following the procedure established by law if required.

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Delhi riots 2020: Student activist Devangana Kalita moves High Court seeking videos of anti-CAA protests

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The post Anti-CAA protest: Delhi High Court quashes trial court’s order taking cognizance of FIR against Shabnam Hashmi for holding banner appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In reflecting the state of hate that the Hindutva right wing groups have openly encouraged, even small time goons have gained confidence that the local police and will not take action agains them, and have started roaming markets threatening Muslim shopkeepers with dire consequences. A 58 second video, perhaps shot by one the saffron staff wearing members of the self-appointed Hindutva crew shows one such threat, delivered with a chilling ‘promise’ that the worst is yet to come and Muslims will have to ‘pay a bigger price later’.

“Can NSA or UAPA apply against these? Will it come in the class of breaking the social brotherhood,” asked the social media user who uploaded the clip.

क्या इनके खिलाफ NSA या UAPA लागू हो सकती है? क्या ये सामाजिक भाइचारे को तोड़ने की कक्षा में आएगा? pic.twitter.com/jmnGEyH3Ev

— Iqra Quraishi (@Iqraquraishi1) November 5, 2020

The baseball cap wearing gangleader is heard and seen warning the bearded Muslim shopkeeper not to stock or sell any fireworks with the images or names of Hindu gods, specifically Lakshmi and Ganesh, the main deities worshiped during Diwali. “We will send decoy customers to you till Diwali,” said the goon, “and if even one such Lakshmi bomb, Ganesh bomb, firecracker is found in your shop. We will take action that you will not like. Understood?”

“I promise, gentleman’s promise,” said the Muslim man extending his arm for a handshake that is rejected by the goon who identifies himself as ‘Bhaiyya’ something, he is mumbling his name, only to raise his voice again stating Coronavirus for rejecting his handshake. None of them are wearing masks, or maintaining social distance. 

Then another goon from the Hindutva gang, a bearded one this time, starts threatening the much older than him Muslim shopkeeper. His threats reveal the real, more sinister plan of the right-wing gangs out patrolling the area. “We will never shake your hand. If after one cartoon so many crowds can gather, we are also not impotent. If you are against CAA-NRC you are against us. We are asking everyone not to buy from Muslim shops, as they had shut down in protest against CAA-NRC. This is clear. When you are against the nation, we are against you,” says the bearded goon.

The Muslim shopkeeper tells him its not true, then requests the goon not to get angry and even apologises for everything. The Hindutva gang leader then tells his brother-goon, that they are focused for now on threatening the shopkeeper about dire consequences if Lakshmi or Ganesh branded fire crackers are sold, and “they (Muslims) will have to pay the price for the CAA-NRC issue later”.

From their dialect, accent and way of speaking Hindi, it appears that this threat visit was carried out somewhere in Uttar Pradesh, or in an area that lies on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, or maybe an area on the outer suburbs of the National Capital Region. While identities, and affiliations of the right-wing goons is not clear, it is clear that they are confident that they will not be taken to task by the state police, or that they enjoy, or work for someone with political connections.

Related:

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The post You will have to pay for anti CAA-NRC protests: Open threat by right-wing extremists appeared first on SabrangIndia.