A group of lawyers, activists and citizens gathered at the Mysore Bank Circle in Bengaluru on Monday raising slogans against the Delhi police and protesting the arrest of 22-year-old climate activist Disha Ravi, who was picked up two days ago by the Delhi police in connection with the Greta Thunberg 'toolkit' case. Banners at the protest site called for Disha's release and criticised the police's decision to charge her with sedition, a law first enacted by the British to suppress political dissent. "Supporting farmers is not sedition," read one banner. "Students, poets, journalists, artists...Who's left? Criminals," read another.
Historian Ramachandra Guha was among the first few who arrived at the protest site at 4 pm. Speaking to TNM, he criticised the ruling BJP over the young activist's arrest. "This arrest shows that young people with ideas and passion are being persecuted for their views. We have become a country where if you are non-violent and stand for climate change or farmers, you are arrested. On the other hand, if you violently go from door to door intimidating people to donate for the ruling party, you are free," he said.
"This is the regime of our Union Home Minister. Thuggery in the name of the BJP is allowed and peaceful protests in the name of democracy, human rights and environmental sustainability is a crime," he added.
Disha Ravi was arrested from her home in north Bengaluru by the Delhi police on Saturday for editing parts of the ‘toolkit’ shared by Greta. The toolkit was a Google document on farmers’ protests. Though toolkits are Google documents used to prepare a social media campaign or to plan protests and are routinely used, the Delhi police have registered an FIR under sedition and conspiracy. The police alleged that this toolkit was being used to malign India and Disha has been remanded to five days in police custody.
Congress Jayanagar MLA Sowmya Reddy was also among those protesting. "This is the BJP government sending a message that nobody, be it a 22-year-old activist, be it a 22-year-old woman, nobody will be spared. This is a daughter of our state. She was taken away and the due procedure was not followed. Her mother, family, colleagues are all shaken up. And it is very unfortunate. This is indirectly against anybody who speaks up against those who are ruling, the government," Sowmya Reddy said.
Civil society members also joined the protest on Monday and expressed concern that disseminating information about protests was now being viewed as a security crisis. "If the act of participating in the dissemination of information is a national security issue, then we have truly entered a crisis. There is now no distance between the action the government can take on normal citizens," Shalini Rao, a psychologist based in Bengaluru said.
Disha's friends and acquaintances were also part of the protest. "I would describe her as someone who is enterprising and down to earth. I have known her as part of climate action groups since 2019 and I was quite shocked to hear about her arrest," an acquaintance of Disha Ravi told TNM.
Activists raised questions about the way Delhi police arrived in Bengaluru to carry out the arrest. "The FIR should have been translated as per a Delhi High Court judgement. Was there an intimation given to the police here by email or letter to the Bengaluru police before she was arrested?," asked advocate Vinay Sreenivasa.
Following Disha's arrest, Delhi police issued a non-bailable warrant against Mumbai lawyer-activist, Nikita Jacob and an activist named Shantanu in connection with the same case. According to the Delhi police, Nikita, Shantanu and Dishd held a Zoom meeting with Mo Dhaliwal, the founder member of the Poetic Justice Foundation (PJF) who is based in Canada. The Delhi police, as well as reports, have alleged that Mo Dhaliwal is a “self-confessed Khalistan supporter.”
The Delhi police FIR has been filed against the ‘toolkit’ that Greta shared, which had information on how to support farmer protests and included text that could be shared by those who support the protests. However, Greta deleted her February 3 tweet that had a link to the toolkit, as it contained dates from January, and replaced it with a new one. The modified tweet is still on her profile.