Safoora Zargar

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.

Zargar was a M. Phil student of Jamia Millia Islamia and media coordinator of the Jamia Coordination Committee. 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." The Delhi High Court granted Zargar bail at the fourth application on 23 June 2020, and she was released late on 24 June 2020.

Early life and education Zargar was born in 1993 in Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir. she did an M.A. in sociology at Jamia Millia Islamia (New Delhi),

As of 2020, her father is retired, her mother a home-maker, According to Delhi Police, she was one of the founders of the JCC, and "was the admin of JCC's WhatsApp group".

Arrest and bail hearings She was initially arrested at her residence by Delhi Police on 10 April 2020, On 11 April she was brought before the Metropolitan Magistrate and remanded in police custody for two days. Zargar is also charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Since 15 April 2020, she has been held in Tihar Jail. This is an overcrowded prison, and to protect her and her unborn baby from COVID-19, she was held in solitary confinement for almost two weeks.

On 18 April 2020, Zargar's lawyers applied for bail, but this was rejected by the court on 21 April.

On 30 May 2020, Zargar's lawyers again applied for bail, and this was rejected on 4 June by Delhi's Patiala House Court. According to Zargar's lawyers (Ritesh Dhar Dubey and Trideep Pais), though Zargar had briefly visited Chand Bagh on 23 February before the violence started, Zargar delivered her speech that day in Khureji (another part of Delhi).

"Noted constitutional scholars, including Gautam Bhatia, have critiqued the reasoning in that order [of 4 June 2020] for Ms. Zargar’s continued detention." 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." "Many student groups across Delhi have held protests seeking Zargar’s release",

On 17 June 2020, Zargar applied to the Delhi High Court, challenging the 4 June order and seeking bail. 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. 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". According to the police status report, in prison Zargar had her own separate cell, a good diet, and medical attention.

On 23 June 2020, Delhi High Court granted bail for Safoora Zargar. The court told her not to get involved in any activity which may hamper the investigation, and not to leave Delhi without permission. "She has been asked to pay a personal bond of 10,000 rupees ($132; £106) before her release." Tushar Mehta (the Solicitor General of India), represented the police at the hearings on 22 and 23 June. After her release, Zargar told a journalist from PTI, "I am grateful to the almighty and all those who have spoken out for me within India and outside and deeply grateful to the Delhi High Court for this order of release".

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.

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. The police have registered a first information report (FIR) to prove the conspiracy. On 17 June 2020, a Delhi court gave the police two months to file the charge sheet. On 13 August 2020, the court gave the police until 17 September to file the charge sheet. Safoora Zargar is one of the ten people named by the police as the main accused in the case. Other people named in the FIR were: (1) Gulfisha 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.

Online vilification After the arrest of Safoora Zargar, several people on social media started sharing unrelated images and screen captures from videos falsely claimed to be Zargar. People shared an image from a porn video claiming that it was Zargar,

Other social media posts targeting Safoora Zargar for her marital status and pregnancy occurred, with large numbers of individuals claiming that she was unmarried and that her pregnancy was discovered when she was lodged in Tihar Jail. The Quint fact checked all the allegations, which were revealed to be fake. It has been suggested that the online campaigns against her were misogyny Delhi Police hadn't taken any action against the online vilification campaigns and trolls as of 20 May 2020.

Personal life Zargar was interviewed in May 2018. She was described as lacking a typical Kashmiri accent due to being raised mostly in Delhi. She was comfortable speaking Hindi. She said that she usually did not reveal that she was Kashmiri because "People tend to judge me or look at me differently the moment I talk about my Kashmiri identity." Safoora Zargar wed Saboor Ahmed Sirwal in Kishtwar.