A climate activist Disha Ravi, a 22 year-old girl is the first person who got arrested in the case of ‘”Toolkit”, which was tweeted by Swedish school drop out climate activist Greta Thunberg. The “Toolkit” claimed of a global conspiracy to defame Indian government and was in support of farmers. However, the “Toolkit” was later deleted by Thunberg.
Earlier the “Toolkit” was suspected to be produced by Khalistani groups but now Ravi has came out to be the key conspirator in producing the “Toolkit” and she is alleged of reviving the Khalistani groups. She was produced before the Delhi Court on Sunday where she said, “I did not make Toolkit. We wanted to support the farmers. I edited two lines on February 3”.
She had no lawyer on her behalf so, she spoke everything by herself. The court has sent her in five days of police custody for further questioning. Her arrest is being condemned by several Opposition parties.
“Disha Ravi is an Editor of the Toolkit Google Doc & key conspirator in document’s formulation & dissemination,” tweeted the Delhi Police adding that she also started a WhatsApp group to collaborate with others in making the document for the “Toolkit”, “In this process, they all collaborated with pro Khalistani Poetic Justice Foundation to spread disaffection against the Indian State,” added the Police in its tweet.
“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 public domain. This is many times more than the 2 lines editing that she claims,” the police tweeted further.
After the arrest many Opposition leaders started condemning her arrest. A Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “Completely atrocious! This is unwarranted harassment and intimidation. I express my full solidarity with Disha Ravi”.
“Some serious charges applied against a 22 year old for sharing a ‘dangerous’ toolkit. As per BJP our nation is so weak that a written document about farmer agitation shared by an international celebrity will lead to its ‘breakup’ The nation is much stronger than this toolkit, BJP,” Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi tweeted.
“Modi regime thinks by arresting a grand daughter of farmers, under Sedition, it can weaken the farmers’ struggles. In fact, it will awaken the youth of the country and strengthen the struggles for democracy,” read a tweet by CPM’s Sitaram Yechury.
“The question is when will those people be arrested who continue to issue a literal ‘toolkit’ to break the national and social unity of India morning and evening, giving rise to hatred and division among the masses,” Tweeted Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
The incidents occurred on Republic Day were similar to what and how it was stated in the “Toolkit”. The Police called the “Toolkit” part of conspiracy and has filed sedition cases against the creators of the “Toolkit”.