Congress Rajya Sabha MP Syed Naseer Hussain on Wednesday said that the Karnataka government and the state police were not informed about the arrest of climate activist Disha Ravi, reported ANI. The 22-year-old activist was arrested in connection with an investigation into a document about the farmers’ protests against the agriculture laws.
“Disha Ravi’s arrest was done without informing the Karnataka police and state government,” Hussain said. “These kinds of arrests have also been done in CAA-NRC [Citizenship Amendment Act-National Register of Citizens] cases, [and] in Punjab who have been agitating against farm laws.”
Hussain said that 140 sedition cases have been registered against Indians in the last six years but the conviction rate has been around 1%. “They [Centre] just want to see that nobody speaks or agitate against the government and create some sort of fearmongering among the common citizens,” he added.
Ravi was arrested on February 13 from her Bengaluru residence by the crime branch of the Delhi Police for allegedly sharing and editing a document intended to help the protests against the new farm laws. The next day, a Delhi court sent Ravi to police custody for five days. The “toolkit” – a common term used by social activists for campaign material – was tweeted by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg in support of India’s protesting farmers on February 4.
In its first information report, the Delhi Police claim that the “toolkit” has given “a call for economic warfare against India and certain Indian companies”. The FIR in connection with the campaign document has been filed on charges of sedition, promoting enmity, and criminal conspiracy.
The Delhi Police have also issued non-bailable arrest warrants against activist Shantanu Muluk and Mumbai advocate Nikita Jacob in the case. However, both of them have been granted transit bail by the Bombay High Court.
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