Patiala House Court, Delhi is likely to produce its verdict today on Disha Ravi's bail plea in the Greta Thunberg toolkit case.
Disha Ravi was also interrogated earlier today along with Shantany Muluck in the same case at Cyber Cell office of Delhi Police.
When was Disha Ravi arrested & Why?
Disha Ravi, a 22 year old climate activist who is also a part of Fridays for future was arrested on February 13 from her residence in Bangaluru in a case related to Greta Thunberg Toolkit case. The toolkit was shared by Greta Thunberg, a Swedish climate activist on Twitter. She later deleted it and again uploaded the updated version of the toolkit after she extended her support to the farmers' protest in India.
Summary of the earlier hearing:
Dharmender Rana, the Additional Sessions judge of the Patiala High Court reserved the order to be pronounced on Ravi's bail plea for February 23. It was a three hour long hearing in which the judge had grilled the police.
SV Raju, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) appeared for Delhi police. He had submitted that he was in touch with pro-Khalistani organizations, "Sikhs for Justice" (SFJ) and "Poetic Justice Foundation" (PJF).
ASG tried to submit that Disha tried to delete the evidences such as the electronic records of her chats and documents.
Ravi's lawyer Siddhart Agarwal submitted in the court that "“having a difference of opinion does not amount to sedition”, that his client sought Thunberg’s support for issues being raised by farmers, and “she did not tweet for Khalistan”.
Justice Rana also said, "What exactly is the evidence collected by you against this lady connecting her to the violence perpetuated on Jan 26? Is there any evidence, or are we required to merely work on surmises, conjectures?"
Regarding the toolkit, ASG Raju said, “It got leaked on social media and it was available to everyone. They panicked and deletions were made. If you were not wrong, you would not make deletions. Hence, this is destruction of evidence. This is only a facade. They have taken advantage of the farmer agitation to run their agenda. She (Ravi) is behind it… she had rights to edit the toolkit, she covered her tracks by removing evidence. This is the working of a guilty mind,”
Justine Rana asked if any FIR was filed against the founders of PJF.
Justice Rana asked, “How do we impute these bad credentials?” ASG Raju replied, "By their tweets."
Justice Rana then asked, “Have you collected some material to this effect?” The police submitted statements of Khalistani sympathizers. Justice Rana asked, “Suppose I am emotionally swayed… and I meet certain persons with doubtful credentials. How would you impute this against me?”
After the judge was not satisfied with the answer, he asked Raju to give definitive answer. Justice Rana said, “If I approach a dacoit for temple donation, how do you say that I am privy to dacoity? What is the material against her?”
To this effect, ASG Raju replied, “It is not that simple… the court must look at the conduct… she was constantly in touch.”
When Justice Rana asked from Police how do you link the toolkit with the violence happened at Delhi, ASG Raju replied, “In a conspiracy, people may have different roles… someone inspired by the toolkit would be instigated to commit violence. Because of the toolkit, some elements put a flag… the first is violence. Toolkit precedes the violence… Go inside Delhi, do this, do that.”
Justice Rana said, “What is this do this and that? What is the link?”. As Raju tried to read a judgment, the judge said, “Please, unless I satisfy my conscience, I don’t move ahead.”
After Justice Rana was not satisfied with the response, he again asked, “Should I assume that for now there is no direct link?”. Raju said, “We are still investigating.”
The hearing went on for three hours. Justice Rana reserved the order on Ravi's bail plea. It is expected to be produced today.