Tag: Toolkit

Disha Ravi granted bail, Court says no real evidence to prove the accusations

Yesterday, while granting bail to environmental activist Disha Ravi in ​​the toolkit case related to the farmers’ movement, the court said that creating a WhatsApp group and editing a toolkit is not a crime. Delhi’s Patiala House Court said on Tuesday, “You cannot put anyone in bars only for disagreeing with the government’s policies.” Late night, Disha was released from Tihar jail.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmendra Rana strictly said that there is no evidence against Disha that she campaigned with the intention of bringing a bad name to India. There is no evidence that she hatched any conspiracy to spread violence. Many people have been arrested in cases of violence, but not a single one has been proved to have any connection with Disha. The court also said that just to maintain the pride government no one can be charged for treason. 
The court granted direction to bail on the condition of personal bond of one lakh and cooperation in investigation. They will also be prohibited from going out of the country during this period. 
The judge said that the police has no evidence to prove the connection between Disha and the Khalistan supporters of the Poetic Justice Foundation.
Similarly, no such evidence has been produced to prove that Disha is a supporter of separatist ideology and there is some kind of connection between her and the banned organization Sikh for Justice.
Disha Ravi, is an Indian youth climate change activist and a founder of Fridays For Future India. Her arrest on 13 February 2021 for an alleged involvement with an online toolkit related to Greta Thunberg and the 2020–2021 Indian farmers’ protests gained international attention.

WHEN THE ‘TOOLKIT’ BECOMES THE TOOL

In light of the recent ‘Farmer’s protest toolkit controversy’, a 22-year-old environmental activist from Bengaluru, Disha Ravi has been arrested by the Delhi police on Sunday 14th February 2021. She is now under five-day police custody as the Delhi Magistrate decided to remand her following the arrest. She has been booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 124(a) for sedition, 153(a) for promoting enmity between different sections of the society and 120(b) for criminal conspiracy. She is accused of involvement in the composition of the “toolkit”, an online document shared by the International environmental activist Greta Thunberg, which consists of action plans to protest against the farm bill. Police claimed that the toolkit had the violence on 26th January as one of its “action plans” to protest against the farm bill, in addition to the pro-Khalistani elements.

Since last October, thousands of farmers have been camping on the national capital borders, protesting against the three newly passed farm laws introduced by the NDA government. On the republic day, the tractor rally conducted by the protesting farmers has resulted in great commotion as the farmers attempted to enter the national capital region, storming the Red Fort complex and clashing with the police and security forces. The police allege that plans for such actions were formulated in the online document, described as a “toolkit” that Ravi created and shared with Thunberg. “The main aim of the toolkit was to create misinformation and disaffection against the lawfully enacted government,” said a police official. “The toolkit sought to artificially amplify the fake news through various tweets which they have created in the form of a tweet bank. The document that they drafted had secessionist and pro-Khalistani content embedded into it through links and texts” he added. 

The arrest of Disha has instigated furious criticism against the fascist actions of the government regarding the farmers protest. The efforts made by the government to silence and oppress the voice of the farmers and the people supporting them is more of a provocative manner than a call for peace.