A Punjabi poem by Swarajbir, poet, editor of the Punjabi Tribune and a former Meghalaya DGP, was widely shared on social media on Monday. An English translation from the political blog, Kafila, is reproduced with permission below:

Dear Kind Judge Sahib

Swarajbir

Kind Judge Sahib,

Mahavir Narwal is dead.

Yes Judge Sahib,

Natasha’s father

Is no more in this world.

Kind Judge Sahib,

A day ago, this daughter

Had come to your court.

She had not said,

“Don’t prosecute me”,

She had not said,

“Declare me innocent”,

Her lawyer had prayed,

“Give her two moments

She is to see her father

She wants to talk to him a bit,

He is sick.”

She was 13 years of age

When her mother died

Her father was her mother

A shade giving tree he was.

You know Judge Sahib,

You know it too well,

That this girl

Did not incite violence in Delhi,

She is innocent.

She wanted to break the cages of society,

And you put her into the cage of the State.

You are too powerful Judge Sahib

You are munsif.

You could have given her two moments

To see her father.

Judge Sahib, you can keep her in prison for more days

You can hand her a sentence of life imprisonment

Your black robes have all the powers, Judge Sahib.

You can do justice.

What is written above is wrong.

You can do everything Judge Sahib,

But you couldn’t grant her

Two moments to talk to her father,

You couldn’t give her

Those two moments, Judge Sahib,

Because you don’t have the heart which could grant her

Those two moments.

You have power

You have justice,

You had said

You would hear the prayer on Monday.

Judge Sahib, that Monday won’t come.

That Monday

Has disappeared from the calendar.

Judge Sahib,

For your whole life,

You will be searching for that Monday.

May 10: JNU student Natasha Narwal was granted interim bail for three weeks on Monday in a case of alleged acts of terrorism linked to her involvement in protests against the new citizenship regime and communal riots in the capital last year.

The bail was granted a day after her father Mahavir Narwal, a scientist and activist, died of Covid-19 in Rohtak, Haryana.

Mahavir Narwal’s last rites are expected to take place on Tuesday.

The current bail plea was filed on Friday evening, a lawyer said.

During Monday’s hearing, the bench made an oral remark that Natasha should not speak publicly about the case during the bail period. Natasha’s counsel replied that she was too distraught to do so.

The division bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anup Jairam Bhambani granted bail on a personal bond of Rs 50,000. This was not opposed by the prosecution.

Natasha has already secured bail in two other cases.

Natasha after she was released on bail

On Monday, the court said: “…In the interests of justice, we are of the view that the release of the applicant/ appellant is imperative in this hour of grief and personal loss and in the facts and circumstances of the case.”

The court added: “Mr Pujari (Natasha’s lawyer) further states that Sh. Mahavir Narwal is survived only by his daughter, namely the appellant/ applicant, and a son, namely Mr Akash Narwal, who as recorded above, is in self-isolation owing to Covid-19 infection; and that, therefore, there is nobody else in the family to perform Sh. Mahavir Narwal’s cremation and last rites.

“It is stated in the application that the appellant/ applicant’s mother passed away some 21 years ago. It has also been brought to our notice that the Positron Hospital at Rohtak, Haryana, where the body of the late Sh. Mahavir Narwal is presently kept, is waiting for the appellant/ applicant to receive the same.”