Bengaluru activist arrested by Delhi police for drafting farm protest document

Bengaluru: Disha Ravi, a 21-year-old Bengaluru-based climate activist, has been arrested by Delhi police on charges of 'sharing and spreading' a toolkit on the farmers protest that was posted by international green activist Greta Thunberg. Disha was arrested at her house in Bengaluru's Soladevanahalli by Delhi police on Saturday night alleging that she "edited" the Google document which was shared as a "toolkit" for the protests. She has been sent to five-day police custody.

"Disha was one of the Editors of the Toolkit Google Doc and a key conspirator in the document formulation and dissemination. Though the 'toolkit' shared by Greta has triggered a big row, it is to be noted that 'toolkits' are documents, that contain basic information on any issue, tweet suggestions and information on what hashtags to use and whom to tag on social media, and are a regular inventory while organising protests online. Various forms of toolkits are also used by social media teams of political parties as well when they need to plan a particular social media campaign. The police contention is that in this case, the document was made with an intention to malign India" the Delhi Police said in a statement.

Disha Ravi is the co-founder of 'Fridays For Future' campaign, which was inspired by Greta Thunberg's protest for the environment. The arrest is reportedly based on an FIR filed by the cyber-crime unit of the Delhi Police, which was registered against creators of the toolkit on 4 February. Currently, Disha Ravi, who graduated from Mount Carmel College in Bengaluru, is working as a culinary experience manager with a company that produces plant-based food.

Several youth-based environmental collectives across Bengaluru on Sunday issued a statement condemning the arrest. The collectives claimed that the controversy over the toolkit is "baseless and has no merit," and demanded that she be released immediately, her records expunged and she be escorted back to her home.

According to a statement issued on Sunday, "It is our firm opinion that the government needs to stop viewing everyone who disagrees with its policies as enemies and rather learn to work with the people who have elected them. Using words and phrases like 'international conspiracy', 'defame the country' 'waging social, cultural and economic war against India' to describe young environmental groups is highly unbecoming of people sitting in the highest corridors of power."