There were constant hard-hitting headlines about Disha on almost all Indian news channels. Disha’s arrest marks the first in the case registered by the Delhi police over some ‘toolkit.’ Disha Ravi assumed to be an Editor of the Toolkit Google Doc and key conspirator in document’s formulation & dissemination. She started WhatsApp Group & collaborated to make the Toolkit doc. She worked closely with those farmers’ supporters to draft the Doc In this process, police believe that they all collaborated with the pro-Khalistani Poetic Justice Foundation to spread disaffection against the Indian State. She was the one who shared the Toolkit Doc with Greta Thunberg. Later, she asked Greta to remove the main Doc after its incriminating details accidentally got into the public domain. This is many times more than the 2 lines editing that she claims. This particular tool kit has bothered many entities those who are ruling party supporters.
In court, the Public Prosecutor alleged that Disha was part of a larger conspiracy against the Indian government, with links to Khalistani separatists. Disha denied being part of any conspiracy, and that she doesn’t know any such group. “I was just supporting farmers,” she said, as she broke down, “I supported farmers because they are our future and we all need to eat.” She added that she didn’t create the toolkit, and just made two edits to it. In a statement, Delhi police said that Disha was “one of the Editors of the Toolkit Google Doc and a key conspirator in the document’s formulation and dissemination.” Though the ‘toolkit’ shared by Greta has triggered a big row, it is to be noted that ‘toolkits’ are documents, that contain basic information on any issue, tweet suggestions, and information on what hashtags to use and whom to tag on social media, and are a regular inventory while organising protests online. Various forms of toolkits are also used by social media teams of political parties as well when they need to plan a particular social media campaign. The police’s contention is that in this case, the document was made with an intention to malign India.
Disha Ravi is a co-founder of the ‘Fridays For Future’ campaign, which was inspired by Greta Thunberg’s protest for the environment. She was arrested under the FIR filed by the cyber-crime unit of the Delhi police on February 4 against the creators of the “toolkit” on farmers’ protest under charges of sedition, criminal conspiracy, and promoting hatred. Currently, Disha Ravi, who graduated from Mount Carmel College in Bengaluru, is currently working as a culinary experience manager with a company that produces plant-based food. After 22-year-old Disha Ravi’s arrest, two more activists are wanted by the police in the case involving a “toolkit” shared by climate campaigner Greta Thunberg in support of the farmer protests. Warrants are out against activists Nikita Jacob and Shantanu and they face charges that are not bailable. Disha Ravi, a climate activist, has been accused of sedition and is in police custody.
The police claim according to their investigations, the organisation behind the “toolkit” shared by Greta Thunberg – Poetic Justice – had contacted Nikita Jacob to organise a “tweetstorm” ahead of the Republic Day protest by farmers. The organisation is a Khalistani group, the police say. The new warrants have emerged at a time outrage is spiraling over the arrest of Disha Ravi, a Bengaluru college graduate, and climate activist, on conspiracy and sedition charges.
The protestors are Deeply saddened by the conduct of the duty magistrate…who remanded a young woman to five days in police custody, without first ensuring that she was being represented by counsel. Magistrates must take their duties of remand seriously and ensure that the mandate of Article 22 of the constitution is scrupulously followed. If the accused was not being represented by counsel at the time of the hearing, the magistrate should have waited till her counsel arrived or, in the alternate, provided her with legal aid. Several opposition parties and activists have condemned the arrest and the manner in which it was done. “Completely atrocious! This is unwarranted harassment and intimidation. Thousands of farmers have been protesting since November on highways outside Delhi against three central laws. On January 26 Republic Day, a tractor rally dissolved into chaos and clashes when the protesters broke through barricades and even stormed the Red Fort. On February 3, Greta Thunberg had tweeted a “toolkit” to show support for the farmers’ Republic Day protest. She later deleted the tweet, posting an updated one. The police say the “toolkit” was aimed at waging a cultural war against the government and creating divisions among various groups. The government also hit out at “sensationalist social media hashtags and comments” by celebrities following posts from Greta Thunberg and pop singer Rihanna, who also tweeted in support of the farmer protests.
