Are the Delhi Police so inefficient in their sleuthing? They first arrest Natasha Narwal of @PinjraTod on May 23, three months after filing an FIR against her & others for the Feb 22 anti-CAA sit-in at Jafrabad metro station. https://thewire.in/government/delhi-riots-natasha-narwal-uapa-pinjra-tod via @thewire_in

Turns out FIR (48/2020) is a bit of a joke. It invokes IPC 353 (using violence against police) though the cop whose 'first information' is basis of the FIR makes no mention of any violence whatsoever. Not surprisingly, the judge on May 24 grants Natasha (& Devangana Kalita) bail.

The cops suddenly find another FIR (50/2020), filed Feb 25, and rush to re-arrest them. Charge now is murder & attempt to murder, though the FIR doesn't name them or anyone else. Since the cops didn't arrest them first on this serious charge, they must've just found the evidence!

It turns out murder is not the most serious crime the police is accusing Natasha of. May 29 night, they re-arrest her under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the law designed for catching and punishing terrorists. Once you are arrested under UAPA, getting bail is v tough.

So did @DelhiPolice serendipitously stumble upon evidence of her being a murderer when it realised its first FIR was rubbish? And equally fortuitously stumble upon evidence of her being a terrorist so that it need not worry about bail hearings any more?

No, Delhi Police is not lucky. Nor are they inefficient. This is the new reality @narendramodi has created in the first year of his second term. It all goes further downhill from here. Read my article, 'Democracy Quarantined', on what this new reality is: https://thewire.in/politics/as-the-first-year-of-modi-2-0-ends-its-clear-that-democracy-has-been-quarantined