All You Need To Know Bengaluru Activist Disha Ravi Accused Of Sharing Greta 'Toolkit' On Farmers

A 21-year-old climate activist, Disha Ravi, has been arrested from Bengaluru by the Delhi Police early on Sunday morning. She was reportedly ¡®picked up¡¯ from her house located within Soladevanahalli police station limits in Bengaluru on Saturday.

The police claim she was involved in sharing the ¡°toolkit¡± related to the farmers¡¯ protest on social media. The same "toolkit" was shared and deleted shortly after by international teen climate activist Greta Thunberg that caused a political storm in India.

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But before we get into the details of the arrest, let us begin by knowing who is this girl who has been arrested.

Who is Disha Ravi?

Ravi graduated from the Mount Carmel college, and is one of the founders of the ¡®Fridays for Future¡¯ (FFF) campaign in India. FFF is a global climate strike movement that started in August 2018, when 15-year-old Greta Thunberg began a school strike for climate. It was for students who skip Fridays classes to participate in demonstrations to demand action from political leaders to take action to prevent climate change and for the fossil fuel industry to transition to renewable energy.

She is currently working as a culinary experience manager with a company that produces plant-based food.

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Charges on Disha

The police have accused Disha of ¡°sharing¡± and "spreading" the ¡®toolkit¡¯ related to the farmer protests in Delhi. One source said that the Delhi police have also accused Disha of contributing written material for the toolkit.

The Delhi police have arrested her under the FIR filed by the cyber-crime unit of the Delhi police on February 4 against the creators of the "toolkit" on farmers' protest under charges of sedition, criminal conspiracy and promoting hatred. This is the first arrest the Delhi police have made in the case. A police officer told The Hindu that Ravi was arrested and her phone and laptop seized because she had made changes to the toolkit and shared it.

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What is a toolkit?

This ¡°toolkit¡± ¨C which the police claims is part of a conspiracy ¨C was in fact a collection of articles, social media handles and information on the farmers¡¯ protest, for anyone wanting to learn about the issue and spread the message. A ¡®toolkit¡¯ is prepared for protests often, as it helps remote sympathisers access and participate in the movement, promoting strength in numbers. In a long-term movement, it can be assumed to be a successor of the pamphlet that delineates the ethos of the protest. The fact that the government ¨C including external affairs minister S. Jaishankar ¨C is painting this toolkit as some sort of proof of conspiracy has been questioned by several experts.

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Why is there uproar over toolkit?

According to the police, the ¡°toolkit¡± has a particular section that mentions ¡°digital strike through hashtags on or before January 26, tweet storms on January 23 onwards, physical action on January 26 and watch-out or join farmers march into Delhi and back to borders¡±.

Earlier, the Delhi Police had asked Google and some social media giants to provide information about email id, URLs and certain social media accounts related to the creators of the ¡°toolkit¡± shared by teen climate activist Greta Thunberg and others on Twitter in connection with the farmers¡¯ protest. The Cyber Cell had lodged an FIR against unnamed ¡°pro-Khalistan¡± creators of the ¡°toolkit¡± for waging a ¡°social, cultural and economic war against the Government of India¡±.

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The case was registered on charges of criminal conspiracy, sedition and various other sections of the Indian Penal Code, the police said. Addressing a press conference earlier, a senior Delhi Police officer said initial investigation linked the document with a pro-Khalistan group named ¡°Poetic Justice Foundation¡±.