Justifying Delhi Police’s arrest of 22-year-old climate justice activist Disha Ravi in the ‘toolkit’ case, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that age, gender and profession are not relevant in assessing the culpability of the crime.
The minister said that the Delhi Police are handling the merits of the case “meticulously” while not elaborating on what these ‘merits’ were. He added that the case must not be judged on “extraneous factors” and asked how crime or culpability can be decided on the basis of age, gender or profession, in response to questions about the activist’s arrest.
Speaking to the media, Amit Shah said that the Delhi Police have been given a free hand to deal with the case and there is no political pressure on them, therefore he will not comment on the merits of the case. He added that there was little margin for error by the Delhi Police and one always has the option of approaching the courts if they feel that there is no evidence for the case against the activist.
The Home Minister asked, “What kind of trend is this that people start talking about profession, association and age in terms of a case?” He criticised the media for questioning why one 22-year-old was singled out. The Minister also said, “There might be many 22-year-olds who may have been arrested. There must be some evidence on which the Delhi Police had taken action. Delhi Police is acting as per the law. It has already given details of the IPC Sections which have been used in the case.”
Disha Ravi was arrested on February 15 from her home in north Bengaluru by the Delhi Police for editing parts of a toolkit shared by Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg. The toolkit was a Google document on farmer’s protests and the Delhi Police filed an FIR under sedition and criminal conspiracy. Disha’s five-day remand in police custody ends on Friday and the activist might be produced in court.
Many legal experts had criticised the arrest, stating that it violated Article 22 of the Constitution, which says a person cannot be denied the right to a lawyer. They also said that due process was not followed as Disha was produced before a court in Delhi without her lawyer, who was still in Bengaluru.