‘She wanted to create a voice to help cause of protesting farmers’

On February 13 22yearold climate activist Disha Ravi was picked up from her Bangalore home by the Delhi police on charges of lsquosharing and spreadingrsquo a toolkit on Twitter that shed light on the farmersrsquo protest This toolkit was originally shared by climate activist Greta Thunberg who began the global climate strike movement called ldquoFridaysForFuturerdquo which Ravi is associated with Now youngsters around India are coming out in support of RaviThe Delhi police have slapped charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy against Ravi and claimed in their statement that she was a lsquococonspiratorrsquo in creating the toolkit as well as had joined forces with proKhalistani groups to lsquospread disaffection against the Indian statersquo On Sunday Ravi broke down in court while denying being part of any socalled international conspiracy and stood her ground by stating that she was lsquojust supporting the farmersrsquo She was remanded in five days of police custodyAt a press conference held on Mondaymdashwhich came amid national outrage over Ravirsquos arrestmdashDelhi police authorities said that nonbailable warrants had been issued against two other activists namely Nikita Jacob and ShantanuAdvocate Jacob and environmental activist Shantanu Muluk filed separate pleas on Monday in the Bombay High Court which will hear them on Tuesday after a Delhi court issued the nonbailable warrants While Jacobrsquos plea was filed in the principal HC seat in Mumbai Muluk of Beed district submitted his application in the Aurangabad bench of the High CourtlsquoWe are in disbeliefrsquoldquoWe never knew that standing in solidarity with the farmers of the country could land us in jailrdquo said 29yearold FFF volunteer Pooja name changed ldquoPeople keep asking us why are climate activists supporting a farmerrsquos protest It is because they farmers are going to be most affected by climate changethe entire ideology of privatisation is causing climate change in the first placerdquo When asked what was the prevailing mood at FFF Pooja said ldquoMost of us are students and kids who are in disbelief that the government can do this to someone who is only doing good for humanity When we see such a person arrested this way without having any legal representation it leaves us heartbrokenrdquoVarious human rights organisations stage a demonstration against the arrest of Disha Ravi by Delhi police on Monday in Bangalore PicAFPTS Dinesh Nadar 19 a resident of Navi Mumbai who has been volunteering with the FFF movement for about a year now said ldquoThe current atmosphere is a bit tense and there is some degree of fear among us given most of us are around 18 or younger A toolkit is used in every campaign even the UN SDGs Sustainable Development Goals have toolkits The Indian government has toolkits itrsquos not illegal and as far as the senior lawyer has even mentioned in the news yesterday Sunday there is nothing illegal in the kit that has been uploaded We werenrsquot aware of this but what scares us is the fact that one of us has been targetted by the media so badlyrdquolsquoWe feel helplessrsquoM Yuvan who is also a part of the FFF movement and who was part of a press conference held on Monday evening at Chennairsquos Press Club said ldquoDisharsquos arrest is a scare tactic to try and muzzle the voices of people who are speaking out and reclaiming space in the public domain Obviously a lot of volunteers and other people involved are scared because these are young people who feel like they can be arrested for simply speaking out against the government Her arrest has put fear anxiety and helplessness in our mindsrdquoBlack Lives Matter protests relied heavily on ToolkitsA press release put out on Monday by the Chennai Solidarity Group for Disha Ravi reads ldquoThe government of Indiarsquos attempts to intimidate and harass young people engaged in shaping the countryrsquos environmental future are shameful and not becoming of a country of Indiarsquos staturerdquo It adds ldquoWe believe Disha Ravi and youngsters like her ought to be celebrated not harassed and demonised We call upon the government of India to stop the witchhunt of young activists and instead engage with the issues mdash like the rising unemployment and the deteriorating state of the environment that bother usrdquo The Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms has also issued a press release condemning Ravirsquos arrestExplaining Ravirsquos arrest independent lawyers said that although normally there is a requirement for a transit order which police authorities have to get from a local court in order to take a person from one state to another the ambiguity lies in the fact that there are multiple Delhi HC judgments that state the police donrsquot always need a remand ldquoThis is a grey areaif the police are able to produce the person within 24 hours which they have in Disharsquos caserdquo said a senior Delhi HC lawyerFrom spanner to seditionA toolkit commonly seen as a ubiquitous box to make life easy has gained infamy in India following the arrest of climate activist Disha Ravi from BangaloreFarmers protesting against the Centrersquos new agriculture laws at Singhu border in New DelhiUp until February 3 the word Toolkit conjured up the image of a crudely painted metal box on a Tata truck or a desktop icon but the Delhi police thrust lsquoToolkitrsquo to primetime debate after they tagged a Google doc tweeted by Greta Thunberg as an attempt to incite chaos in Delhi on January 26 They lsquoairliftedrsquo 22yearold activist Disha Ravi from Bangalore on Valentinersquos Day accusing her of collaborating on the document or Toolkit to revive a Khalistani group under the pretext of lending support to the farmersrsquo protest Amid a massive backlash against the Delhi cops for allegedly trying to throttle free speech herersquos a lowdown on ToolkitWhat is a ToolkitSimply put itrsquos a document with a set of adaptable guidelines or suggestions to get something done In the context of protests and mass movements it may contain ways to sustain the agitation how to anticipate and protect one from state moves Even government departments have Toolkits to share information with citizens In the nowdeleted Toolkit tweeted by Thunberg it tried to ldquoexplain the farmersrsquo protestsrdquo at Delhirsquos door It also apparently added that the new farm laws would bring farmers under the control of large corporations and risk them to exploitationIs it a new conceptNot at all USbased Swarthmore College says nearly 300 protests have depended on leaflets books and webpagesmdashor Toolkitsmdashover the past two centuries In recent memory Occupy Wall Street of 2011 relied heavily on Toolkits to galvanise support So were the antiCAA protests in India and the Black Lives Matter movement during the concluding months of Donald Trumprsquos presidency For instance Toolkits advised demonstrators in Hong Kong to wear masks and helmets to conceal their identity during antigovernment protests in 2019 Social media and digital campaigns have brought Toolkits to prominenceWhy is it so bad in IndiaEver since the January 26 clashes which the Delhi police equate with the Capitol riots cops have gone on the offensive to hunt down those who they call worked behind the scene to disturb law and order in the national capital With Swedish activist Greta Thunberg drawing international attention to farmersrsquo protests the Delhi police say Poetic Justice Foundation which they alleged is a proKhalistani organisation is the brain behind the ToolkitWhy does Disha face sedition chargesDelhi cops say the climate activist actively worked on the Toolkit shared by Greta Thunberg They say one section in the document tries to ldquocreate disharmony among various social religious and cultural groups and encourage disaffection and illwill against the Government of Indiardquo and the events unfolded on January 26 was a copycat execution of an action plan mentioned in the Toolkit In her defence Disha told a Delhi court ldquoI did not make the Toolkit We wanted to support the farmers I edited two lines on February 3rdquo Those backing her say sharing a Toolkit or guidelines for holding a peaceful protest is far from a seditious actFeb 3Date when Greta shared the controversial Toolkit124AIPC section for sedition against Disha Punishment ranges from jail of up to three years to a life term