Safoora Zargar (born 1993) is an Indian student activist leader from Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir, best known for her role in the Citizenship Amendment Act protests.
She was in custody from 10 April until 24 June 2020, accused of being part of a conspiracy to cause riots and of making an inflammatory speech on 23 February 2020.
Delhi Police said that Zargar was involved in a "sinister design" with the "objective of uprooting a democratically elected government."
[1] She moved to Delhi in 1998 with her family, when her father was posted in neighboring Faridabad, part of National Capital Region (NCR).
[7][12] Delhi police have said that the violence was a pre-meditated conspiracy and all arrests have been made based on scientific and forensic evidence.
[9][7] Officials of Tihar jail said that she was kept isolated in a single cell, and denied that that constituted solitary confinement because she had been allowed to talk to her family on the telephone at least once.
[12] According to a report of The Hindu, "A high-powered committee headed by a Delhi High Court judge directed DG (Prisons) to ensure that adequate medical assistance is provided to Zargar".
[18] The judge referred to eyewitness statements and a record of a WhatsApp chat, and said "there is prima facie evidence to show that there was a conspiracy to at least block the roads (chakka jam).
"[18][20][15][b] "Noted constitutional scholars, including Gautam Bhatia, have critiqued the reasoning in that order [of 4 June 2020] for Ms. Zargar’s continued detention.
"[16][22][c] In June 2020, a preliminary report by the American Bar Association said that "International law, including treaties to which India is a state party, only permit pre-trial detention under narrow circumstances, which do not appear to have been met in Zargar's case.
[27][28] The application was heard on 18 June 2020 by Justice Rajiv Shakdher, who issued a notice to the police asking them to file a status report on the bail plea.
[29] At the hearing on 22 June, the police status report said that Zargar was one of the "main conspirators and the instigator" of riots in northeast Delhi, and was involved in a "web of actions animated by unlawful object of creating terror and disaffection".
[26] The police said that Zargar's "protestations of innocence are phony; her actions are neither licit nor legitimate and she is clearly culpable of criminal wrongs of grave magnitude deserving no indulgence from the court".
[36][38] The Deccan Chronicle expressed the opinion that Zargar's release on bail had been a surprise, and noted that Jamia Millia Islamia students Meeran Haider, Shifa-ur-Rehman and Asif Iqbal Tanha, and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Natasha Narwal and former-JNU-student Umar Khalid have not so far been bailed.
[39] A special cell of the Delhi Police say that there was a conspiracy to orchestrate riots just before the visit to India of the United States President Donald Trump on 24–25 February 2020.
[40] Other people named in the FIR were: (1) Gufisha Fatima, (2) Meeran Haider, (3) Tahir Hussain, (4) Ishrat Jahan, (5) Devangana Kalita, (6) Natasha Narwal, (7) Shafa ur Rehman, (8) Khalid Saifi, and (9) Asif Iqbal Tanha who have been arrested.
[40] On 25 November 2020, Delhi High Court granted her permission to stay at her maternal home in Haryana for two months, on condition that she put a pin on Google maps, to help the investigating officer to verify where she was.
[43] People shared an image from a porn video claiming that it was Zargar,[4][44] but the fact checking website Alt News, revealed that all the allegations made were fake and baseless.