The Delhi High Court has permitted scholar and UAPA-accused Natasha Narwal to travel to the United Kingdom from November 2 to December 1, 2026, to present a research paper and meet her PhD supervisors at the University of Warwick.

It was observed that the mere fact that an individual is charged with serious offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) does not curtail their right to travel abroad in a blanket manner, especially when they have been on bail without violating any conditions and have established roots in society.

The Bench of Justice Amit Bansal held, "The trial against the petitioner is likely to take considerable amount of time to be completed. The petitioner has been granted bail since 2021 and it is not the case of the respondent that she has violated any of the conditions of bail. The fact that the petitioner has been charged of serious offences under the UAPA does not curtail her right to travel abroad in a blanket manner. The petitioner has roots in the society in as much as her close family resides in the National Capital Region (NCR). Considering the aforesaid facts and circumstances, this Court is inclined to permit the petitioner to travel to United Kingdom albeit with suitable safeguards."


Advocate Adit S Pujari appeared for the Petitioners, while ASG SV Raju appeared for the Respondent

Petitions were filed seeking to set aside the order passed by the Sessions Judge whereby the applications filed by Natasha to travel to the United Kingdom (‘UK’) from 2nd November, 2026 to 1st December, 2026, were rejected.

In 2020, various FIRs were filed against her under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

It was stated by the Petitioner that she began to pursue a PhD programme at the School of Law, University of Warwick, UK. The petitioner was admitted on 2nd October, 2023, to the PhD programme. The petitioner’s paper “Gendered Carceral Labour as Social Reproduction” was accepted for presentation at the annual conference to be held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London.

The State submitted that the United Kingdom has very strict extradition laws and that, if the petitioner decides to seek asylum in the United Kingdom, it would be difficult to extradite her.

It was further submitted that the academic purposes for which the petitioner seeks to travel to the United Kingdom can also be achieved virtually and therefore there is no need for the petitioner to travel to the United Kingdom.

"It cannot be denied that the petitioner is pursuing her PhD for the last three (3) years at University of Warwick, UK which is a renowned University. Since her enrolment in 2023, till date the petitioner has been pursuing PhD programme virtually without making any request to travel to United Kingdom. The permission to travel to United Kingdom is sought at this stage when the PhD programme is at fag-end, in order to present her research paper and to meet her PhD Supervisors", the Court observed.

The Court also perused the letter of her PhD supervisors, who specifically want her to appear in person for the supervisory meetings and present her work to the academic staff and postgraduate researchers and further take part in doctorate training on campus.

The Court permitted her to travel to the UK subject to the condition that an undertaking shall be furnished by the petitioner as well as her brother before the Trial Court.

Accordingly, the petition was allowed.

Cause Title: Natasha Narwal v. State of NCT of Delhi [Neutral Citation: 2026: DHC: 9372]

Appearances:

Petitioner: Advocate Adit S. Pujari, Advocate Chaitanya Sundriyal, Advocate Manvender Singh Shekhawat, Advocate Harshvardhan Pushkin Sharma

Respondent: Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, Special Public Prosecutor Madhukar Pandey, Advocate Ayodhya Prasad, Advocate Dhruv Pande, Advocate Aarush Bhatia, Advocate Saravjeet Singh, Advocate Ishika Singla

Click here to read/download the Order

Delhi High CourtJustice Amit Bansal

Aastha Kaushik