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New Delhi: The pro-Khalistani elements saga and the toolkit episode have exploded. The law has taken its course – through only initial steps.
Disha Ravi, 22, one of the founders of the Indian branch of the Fridays for Future climate strike, was arrested by Delhi police from Bengaluru and remanded to police custody for five days.
“The call (by use of the Toolkit) was to wage economic, social, cultural and regional war against India,” Delhi Police Special Commissioner Praveer Ranjan had said earlier.
Meanwhile, the BJP MP from Bengaluru, P C Mohan likened climate activist Disha to terrorists – Ajmal Kasab and Burhan Wani – whom he pointed out were also 21, similar to the jailed activist. ‘Age is just a number’, he underlined.
“Burhan Wani was a 21-year-old. Ajmal Kasab was a 21-year-old. Age is just a number! No one is above the law,”
Mohan tweeted and also said – “Law will take its own course. A Crime is a crime is a crime is a crime”.
In a statement posted on Twitter, Delhi police Ravi, an associate of noted climate change activist Greta Thunberg, had “collaborated” to “spread disaffection against the Indian State”.
Police have said the toolkit suggested a conspiracy in the run-up to a huge rally on Republic Day, January 26, which saw protesting farmers clash with police.
“Disha Ravi, arrested by CyPAD Delhi Police, is an Editor of the Toolkit Google Doc & key conspirator in document’s formulation & dissemination. She started WhatsApp Group & collaborated to make the Toolkit doc. She worked closely with them to draft the Doc,” Delhi cops tweeted.
Ms Disha became the first person to be arrested by the Delhi Police in the case involving “Toolkit” tweeted earlier this month by Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg.
The police say the “Toolkit” was a Khalistani conspiracy even as Ms Disha has pleaded innocence.
“I did not make Toolkit. We wanted to support the farmers. I edited two lines on February 3,” Disha told a Delhi court on Sunday.
Police investigations with the support of IT giants like Google so far revealed that Disha had shared the Toolkit Doc with Greta Thunberg.
Later, she asked Greta to remove the main Doc after its incriminating details ‘accidentally’ got into the public
domain. “This is many times more than the 2 lines editing that she claims,” said a Twitter missive from Delhi police.
Shiv Sena MP, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh and CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury have predictably tried to defend Disha.
“Some serious charges applied against a 21-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,” tweeted Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi.
Disha Ravi was one of the Editors of the Toolkit Google Doc and a key conspirator in the document’s formulation and dissemination, the police told a Delhi court.
Moreover, not surprisingly, Samyukta Kisan Morcha also condemned the police action and demanded her immediate release.
