Disha Ravi arrest: Delhi court directs police to hand over FIR copy to activist, allows her to speak with lawyer, family

New Delhi: A court in Delhi on Tuesday directed Delhi Police to hand over to 21-year-old climate activist Disha Ravi a copy of the FIR and other documents related to her arrest in connection with allegedly being involved in sharing a “toolkit” on social media on the farmers’ protest and allowed her to speak to her family. Besides the FIR, the court also directed the police to provide her with the copies of the arrest memo and remand paper which was placed to seek her custodial interrogation. The court also permitted her to get warm clothes, masks and books. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma allowed Ravi to speak with her family members over the phone for 15 minutes a day and meet with her lawyer for 30 minutes a day, while she is in police custody. The court passed the order on an application filed by Ravi through her lawyer. The court had on Sunday sent Ravi to five-day police custody after the agency said her custodial interrogation was required to probe an alleged larger conspiracy against the government of India and to ascertain her alleged role relating to the Khalistan movement. Ravi, arrested by a Cyber Cell team of the Delhi Police from Bengaluru on Saturday, was produced before a court here and police had sought her seven days’ custody. While seeking her custody, the police had told the court that the activist had allegedly edited the “toolkit” and many other people were involved in the matter. A “toolkit” is a document created to explain any issue. It also provides information on what one needs to do to address the issue. This might include information about petitions, details about protests and mass movements. 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 Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and others on Twitter in connection with the farmers’ protest. The Cyber Cell had lodged an FIR against “pro-Khalistan” creators of the “toolkit” for waging a “social, cultural and economic war against the government of India”. The case against unnamed persons was registered on charges of criminal conspiracy, sedition and various other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The “toolkit” was aimed at spreading disaffection and ill-will against the government of India and creating disharmony among various social, religious and cultural groups, the police had claimed.