Thread by @rkarnad

Natasha Narwal, a young activist leader held in jail, has lost her only parent to Covid. She could not speak to him before he died.
Last August, the imprisoned activist GN Saibaba was refused a video call to see his dying mother one last time. A video call. /n

Of India's hundreds of thousands of Covid 19 deaths, this could be the most emblematic.
A young woman who led protests to defend an inclusive, Constitutional India is imprisoned on charges of leading a deadly communal pogrom... /n

Through India's first lockdown, the Home Ministry and Delhi police occupy themselves with locking up protest leaders, based on a feeble theory of a 'conspiracy'.

In May 2020, Narwal and D. Kalita were arrested, granted bail -- then rearrested in minutes on murder charges... /n

In September 2020, Narwal was again granted bail, on FIR 50/2020. The judge observed that the video, presented by the police, showed evidence of "unlawful assembly" but no suggestion of her inciting violence.

But she stayed in prison, as police had added charges under UAPA. /n

This year, as Indians began drowning in the second wave, Narwal's father was infected and unwell. Her mother had died when she was 13, and he was her only parent.
She applied for bail again to be able to give him care – and was still waiting for a bail hearing when he died. /n