The Delhi Police on Saturday, 13 February, arrested a 21-year-old climate activist Disha Ravi, from Bengaluru on charges of ‘sharing and spreading’ a toolkit on the farmers protest, that was posted by international green activist Greta Thunberg, reported The News Minute.
Breaking down in a Delhi court, before which she was produced on Sunday, Ravi denied being part of any conspiracy and said "I was just supporting farmers.” She added that she didn't create the toolkit, and just made two edits to it.
A Delhi court has remanded the climate activist to five-day Delhi Police Special Cell custody, ANI reported.
What Did Delhi Police Say?
“She was one of the editors of the toolkit Google Doc and a key conspirator in the document’s formulation and dissemination,” the Delhi Police said.
“In this process, they all collaborated with pro-Khalistani Poetic Justice Foundation to spread disaffection against the Indian State. She was the one who shared the ‘toolkit’ document with Greta Thunberg. Later, she asked Greta to remove the main doc after its incriminating details accidentally got into public domain. This is many times more than the two-line edit she claims she did,” the Delhi police statement further read.
The arrest is reportedly based on an FIR filed by the cybercrime unit of the Delhi Police, which was registered against creators of the ‘toolkit’ on 4 February.
Who is Disha Ravi?
Ravi, who is one of the founders of the environment action campaign titled Fridays For Future, was reportedly picked up from her residence in Bengaluru’s Soladevanahalli on Saturday.
An alumna of Bengaluru’s Mount Carmel College, 21-year-old Ravi is employed as culinary experience manager of a company that produces plant-based food.
Fridays For Future is an environmental movement that began across the world after the then 15-year-old Greta Thunberg, along with other teen activists, sat outside the Swedish Parliament for three weeks, demanding action on climate change.
Youth-Based Collectives Issue Statement
Several youth-based environmental collectives on Sunday issued a statement condemning Ravi’s arrest.
The collectives said that the controversy over the 'toolkit’ is “baseless and has no merit,” demanding that she be released immediately, her records expunged and she be escorted back to her home, reported The News Minute.
“It is our firm opinion that the government needs to stop viewing everyone who disagrees with its policies as enemies and rather learn to work with the people who have elected them to power. Using words and phrases like ‘international conspiracy’, ‘defame the country’ ‘waging social, cultural and economic war against India’ to describe young environmental groups is highly unbecoming of people sitting in the highest corridors of power,” the statement read.
(With inputs from The News Minute.)
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