Student activists Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Asif Iqbal Tanha were granted a release order by a Delhi court on Thursday, two days after the high court had granted them bail in a case related to the riots that broke out last year.

The order comes hours after the Delhi High court asked a trial court to decide with "promptitude" and "expedition" the issue of their release from jail.

"The continuing custody despite clear mandate of law, beyond 24 hours since direction to verify sureties, is illegal. Direct the authorities to release us forthwith," the students had said in their plea, according to a report by ndtv.com.

The three student activists were not released from the jail on time citing lack of verification details of their addresses and sureties.

The trio is accused of being the ''masterminds'' of the February 2020 violence, which had left 53 people dead and and more than 200 injured.

The students, who have already spent over a year in jail, surviving two Covid-19 waves, were obliged to spend more time in jail. A sessions court judge held off Wednesday on ordering the immediate release of the students on bail after Delhi police demanded three days to verify the addresses of the accused and the sureties posted by them.

The Delhi High Court ordered on Tuesday in separate rulings taking up the allegations against each of the accused that the three should be immediately released on bail and made stinging remarks about their arrest under UAPA.

The High Court said “... 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.” The two-man bench went on to add that: “If such blurring gains traction, democracy would be in peril.”