Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Monday commented on the arrest of environment activist Disha Ravi, suggesting that her act amounted to “anti-national” activities. ““Those with the seeds of anti-national thought must be fully destroyed, whether Disha Ravi or anyone else,” Vij said in a tweet in Hindi.
Meanwhile, the tweet was reported to Twitter by someone in Germany, following which it served a notice to Vij, as it is mandated to do under the country’s Network Enforcement Act, the social media platform said. However, upon investigation, Twitter found that the tweet was not subject to removal.
The Delhi Police Cyber Cell on Saturday arrested 22-year old Ravi from Bengaluru for her alleged role in editing and spreading a campaign document tweeted by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg to support the farmers’ protest against Modi government’s agricultural laws. She was sent to five days of police custody on Sunday.
The police said that Ravi was the editor of the “toolkit” – a common term used by social activists for campaign material – and the “key conspirator” in its formulation and dissemination. The Delhi Police also alleged that Ravi and the others collaborated with a pro-Khalistan group to “spread disaffection” against the Indian government. They added that Ravi was the one who shared the toolkit with Thunberg.
Earlier on Monday, the police also issued non-bailable warrants against an advocate namedNikita Jacob and a person named Shantanu for being allegedly involved in drafting the document and having direct ties with “pro-Khalistani elements”.
On February 4, Thunberg had tweeted a link to the “toolkit” expressing her support for the farmers’ protests, saying: “Here’s an updated toolkit by people on the ground in India if you want to help. (They removed their previous document as it was outdated.)”.
Following this, the Delhi Police lodged a First Information Report against its creators, after pro-government social media handles expressed outrage claiming that the “toolkit” was evidence of a global conspiracy to attack India. The FIR included sections 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting hatred amongst various communities on social/cultural/religious grounds) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
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