Amnesty demands India to release Muslim research scholar who is 3 months pregnant

Amnesty International has demanded the Indian government to release pregnant scholar Safoora Zargar, who was arrested in connection with protests against the controversial CAA law in Delhi.

“Research scholar Safoora Zargar was three months pregnant when she was arrested,” the international human rights group said on social networking site Twitter.

“The Government of India has ruthlessly arrested a pregnant woman and sent her to an overcrowded prison during COVID-19,” the statement said.

Amnesty India has demanded the release of Safura Zargar.

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At the time of her arrest, Safoora Zargar, a research scholar at @jmiu_official, was 3 months pregnant.

The Government of India has ruthlessly arrested a pregnant woman and sent her to an overcrowded prison during #COVID19!

DEMAND HER RELEASE NOW: https://t.co/iJuOcDztsY pic.twitter.com/2sU7GmSslP

— Amnesty India (@AIIndia) May 1, 2020

The 27-year-old Safoora Zargar was arrested on April 10 and prosecuted under the strict anti-terrorism law, the Prevention of Illegal Activities Act 2019, when she was three months pregnant.

Safoora Zargar, a research scholar at Jamia Millia Islamia and media coordinator of the Jamia Coordination Committee (JCC), staged a peaceful protest in New Delhi for several weeks in December last year against the controversial citizenship law.

The Indian government had sent Safora Zargar to Tihar Jail under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Police has accused Safoora Zargar of being a key ‘conspirator’ in the February riots.

In December last year, Hindu nationalists from the ruling BJP staged several attacks on a peaceful sit-in in Delhi against a controversial citizenship law, which led to bloody riots in northeastern Delhi and at least 53 people killed. Majority of them were Muslims.

On February 10, Safora Zargar fainted as a result of a clash between police and students, after which she was shifted to a hospital.

Her husband said that since then, as her pregnancy progressed, she had restricted her mobility, and since the coronavirus, she has stopped going out of the house and she worked mostly from home.

Also read: UN chief expresses grieve as death toll rose in Delhi riots