New Delhi: A court here on Tuesday directed Delhi Police to hand over to 21-year-old climate activist Disha Ravi a copy of the FIR and other documents related to her arrest in connection with sharing a “toolkit” on social media aimed at organising peaceful protests in support of the ongoing farmers’ movement in India.
The court also allowed Ravi to speak to her family.
Besides the FIR, the court also directed the police to provide her with the copies of the arrest memo and remand paper which was placed to seek her custodial interrogation. The court also permitted her to get warm clothes, masks and books.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma allowed Ravi to speak with her family members over phone for 15 minutes a day and meet with her lawyer for 30 minutes a day, while she is in police custody. The court passed the order on an application filed by Ravi through her lawyer.
The court had on Sunday sent Ravi to five-day police custody after the agency said her custodial interrogation was required to probe an alleged larger conspiracy against the government of India and to ascertain her alleged role relating to the Khalistan movement.
Ravi, arrested by a Cyber Cell team of the Delhi Police from Bengaluru on Saturday, was produced before a court here and police had sought her seven days’ custody.
While seeking her custody, the police had told the court that the activist had allegedly edited the “toolkit” and many other people were involved in the matter.
Also read: Disha Ravi, Greta Thunberg and the Existential Rebellion the World Needs to Save Itself
Shantanu Muluk gets temporary pre-arrest bail
Additionally, environmental activist Shantanu Muluk, against whom the Delhi Police had registered a case in the alleged conspiracy involving a toolkit for a peaceful protest, got temporary anticipatory bail from the Bombay high court on Tuesday.
The high court will pass its order on advocate and activist Nikita Jacob’s similar plea on Wednesday.
The Delhi Police had also issued non-bailable warrants against lawyer-activist Nikita Jacob and activist Shantanu in connection with the protest “toolkit” shared by Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg to support farmers’ protests,
Justice Vibha Kankanwadi of the Aurangabad bench of the high court granted Muluk, a resident of Beed in central Maharashtra, ten days’ transit anticipatory bail to enable him to apply for protection before the appropriate court in Delhi.
Muluk and Jacob had on Monday approached the high court separately seeking transit anticipatory bail, after a Delhi court issued non-bailable warrants against them.
According to Delhi Police, the duo were involved in preparing the toolkit document and were in direct touch with “pro- Khalistani elements”.
Jacob’s plea for pre-arrest bail was heard by Justice P.D. Naik at the high court’s principal bench in Mumbai which said it would pass the order on Wednesday.
Advocate Hiten Venegavkar, appearing for the Delhi police’s cyber cell, assured the Mumbai bench that “no prudent officer” would arrest a person when his or her application is pending in court.
Jacob and Muluk in their pleas said they were targets of political vendetta.
Senior counsel Mihir Desai, appearing for Jacob, argued that the alleged toolkit was prepared by a number of people and “only spoke of support to the protesting farmers”. “It does not talk about any violence or about the January 26 incident at the Red Fort (when a tractor rally by protesters led to violence),” Desai argued. Serious charges of sedition have been invoked against a person like Jacob who is only a young environmental enthusiast, the lawyer said.
Advocate Venegavkar, however, claimed that the toolkit was created and authored by Disha Ravi and Jacob along with many others who are part of the Khalistan movement. He also contended that the high court does not have the powers to grant any relief when the matter pertains to another state.
Also read: Disha Ravi’s Arrest Is Yet Another Example of Police’s Disregard for Checks and Balances
Jacob, instead of cooperating with the investigation, absconded from her residence, he alleged. “A team of Delhi police went to Jacob’s house on February 11 with a search warrant. She was questioned and her statement was recorded at her residence itself instead of taking her to the local police station,” Venegavkar said. “The police team left her house on February 11 since it was after sunset and told her that they would return the next day for further investigation. Since then, Jacob is absconding,” he said.
To this, Justice Naik said she must have apprehended arrest.
Desai said Jacob had indeed left the house as she feared arrest, adding that if granted bail, she would cooperate with the probe agency.
Justice Naik, before reserving order, said he would not go into the merits of the case but only consider whether a case was made for the grant of transit anticipatory bail.
The “toolkit” in question, as The Wire has explained in detail, was prepared for the ongoing farmers’ protests to disseminate information and help remote sympathisers access and participate in the movement.
Earlier, the Delhi Police had asked Google and some social media giants to provide information about email id, URLs and certain social media accounts related to the creators of the “toolkit” shared by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and others on Twitter in connection with the farmers’ protest.
The Cyber Cell had lodged an FIR against “pro-Khalistan” creators of the “toolkit” for waging a “social, cultural and economic war against the government of India”.
The case against unnamed persons was registered on charges of criminal conspiracy, sedition and various other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
(With inputs from PTI)