Greta Thunberg 'toolkit' case: Bombay HC to hear transit bail pleas of Nikita Jacob, Shantanu Muluk today

The Bombay High Court today (Tuesday) will hear the bail petitions of activists Nikita Jacob and Shantanu Muluk, who were named as suspects by Delhi Police in a case regarding the “toolkit” shared by climate activist Greta Thunberg. The petitions seeking transit anticipatory bail have been filed by advocate Nikita  and environmental activist Shantanu , both Maharashtra residents. The Delhi Police has claimed that Jacob and Muluk created the toolkit on the farmers’ protest along with activist Disha Ravi , who was arrested on Sunday. While Muluk’s petition is expected to come up for hearing this evening, Jacob’s plea will be heard after 2 pm, India Today reported. While Jacobs’ plea was filed in the principal seat of the high court in Mumbai, Muluk, a resident of Beed district in central Maharashtra, submitted his application in the Aurangabad bench of the high court. Both the pleas sought transit anticipatory bail for a period of four weeks so that the applicants (Jacob and Muluk) can approach the court concerned in Delhi to apply for pre- arrest bail. Applicants allege ‘political vendetta, media trial’ Jacob and Muluk, in their pleas, have claimed they are targets of political vendetta. Jacob, in her plea, said she is unaware whether she has been named as an accused or a witness in the case. “However, the applicant (Jacob) fears that she may be arrested due to political vendetta and media trial,” her application said. “Some entity named Legal Rights Observatory appears to have filed a false and baseless complaint with the Delhi police and seeks to pin the blame for violence on 26 January, 2021 (during tractor rally in Delhi) upon the applicant as well,” the plea said. As per the application, on 11 February, a team of Delhi police came to Jacob’s house in Goregaon area of Mumbai with a search warrant and seized documents and electronic gadgets. “The applicant has no religious, political or financial motive or agenda for researching, discussing, editing and circulating communication packs/toolkits for raising awareness, let alone to incite violence, riots and/or cause any other physical harm,” the application said. It said Jacob was a practising advocate in the Bombay High Court who volunteers for environmental causes. “The applicant was deeply concerned about the recent farm laws and villainising of farmers,” the application said. Jacob, in her plea, said the FIR registered in the case was “false and baseless” and that she has already cooperated with the cyber cell of the Delhi police and recorded her statement. Muluk, in his plea filed through advocate Satej Jadhav, said he and others are not actual dissenters but have only come out in support of farmers agitating on Delhi borders for more than two months now against the Centre’s new agri- marketing laws. “Vendetta has tricked down from politics to the houses of common persons, making a mockery of the rights and principles enshrined in the Constitution of India,” the application said. Muluk’s petition said many online foundations had come together and joined the Indian Environmental and Farmers’ Coalition, including XR India, of which he is a founder member. He submitted that he and others were merely extending support to the protesting farmers. An article in The Indian Express quotes the Superintendent of Police of Beed district as saying that a Delhi Police team had visited Beed two days earlier, looking for Muluk. However, they could not find him, after which they informed the local police accordingly and left, the official reportedly said. The Delhi police on Saturday arrested 21-year-old environmental activist Disha Ravi from Bengaluru in connection with the case. She was on Sunday produced before a Delhi court which remanded her in police custody for five days. With inputs from PTI