Patiala House Court, Delhi is likely to produce itsverdict today on Disha Ravi's bail plea in the Greta Thunberg toolkit case.
Disha Ravi was also interrogatedearlier today along with Shantany Muluck in the same case at Cyber Celloffice of Delhi Police.
Whenwas Disha Ravi arrested & Why?
Disha Ravi, a 22 year old climate activist who is also apart of Fridaysfor future was arrested on February 13 from her residence in Bangaluru in acase related to Greta Thunberg Toolkit case. The toolkit was shared by GretaThunberg, a Swedish climate activist on Twitter. She later deleted it and againuploaded the updated version of the toolkit after she extended her support tothe farmers' protest in India.
Summaryof the earlier hearing:
Dharmender Rana, the Additional Sessions judge of thePatiala High Court reserved the order to be pronounced on Ravi's bail plea forFebruary 23. It was a three hour long hearing in which the judge had grilledthe police.
SV Raju, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) appeared forDelhi 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 theevidences such as the electronic records of her chats and documents.
Ravi's lawyer Siddhart Agarwal submitted in the courtthat "“having a difference of opinion does not amount to sedition”, thathis 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 theevidence collected by you against this lady connecting her to the violenceperpetuated on Jan 26? Is there any evidence, or are we required to merely workon surmises, conjectures?"
Regarding the toolkit, ASG Raju said, “It got leaked onsocial media and it was available to everyone. They panicked and deletions weremade. If you were not wrong, you would not make deletions. Hence, this isdestruction of evidence. This is only a facade. They have taken advantage of thefarmer agitation to run their agenda. She (Ravi) is behind it… she had rightsto edit the toolkit, she covered her tracks by removing evidence. This is theworking of a guilty mind,”
Justine Rana asked if any FIR was filed against thefounders of PJF.
Justice Rana asked, “How do we impute these badcredentials?” ASG Raju replied, "By their tweets."
Justice Rana then asked, “Have you collected somematerial to this effect?” The police submitted statements of Khalistani sympathizers.Justice Rana asked, “Suppose I am emotionally swayed… and I meet certainpersons with doubtful credentials. How would you impute this against me?”
After the judge was not satisfied with the answer, heasked Raju to give definitive answer. Justice Rana said, “IfI approach a dacoit for temple donation, how do you say that I am privy todacoity? 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 thetoolkit with the violence happened at Delhi, ASG Raju replied, “In aconspiracy, people may have different roles… someone inspired by the toolkitwould be instigated to commit violence. Because of the toolkit, some elementsput a flag… the first is violence. Toolkit precedes the violence… Go insideDelhi, do this, do that.”
Justice Rana said, “What is this do this and that? Whatis 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?”. Rajusaid, “We are still investigating.”
The hearing went on for three hours. Justice Ranareserved the order on Ravi's bail plea. It is expected to be produced today.