Who is Disha Ravi - the Climate Activist Arrested by Delhi Police for Sharing 'Toolkit' with Greta Thunberg

Police described Disha Ravi as key conspirator in the document's formulation and dissemination and said that she started a WhatsApp group and collaborated to draft the document.

New Delhi: On Sunday, 22-year-old climate activist, Disha Ravi, was arrested by the Cyber Cell team of Delhi Police from Bengaluru for allegedly sharing with Greta Thunberg the “toolkit” related to the farmer’s protest against the Centre’s three agri laws. As claimed by the police force, Ravi, was an editor of the “toolkit Google doc” and “key conspirator” in the document’s formulation and dissemination. Also Read - Disha Ravi Shared Toolkit With Greta Thunberg, Then Asked To Delete It: Delhi Police

The police also alleged that Ravi and others “collaborated with pro-khalistani Poetic Justice Foundation to spread disaffection against the Indian State.” Taking to Twitter, the Delhi Police stated that Ravi was the one who shared the toolkit doc with Greta Thunberg, a teen climate activist, had shared the “toolkit” to lend her support to the farmers’ agitation against the three farm reform laws. Also Read - Our House in on Fire: This is Greta Thunberg's 2019 in Five Words

Ravi was picked up from her house for questioning and later arrested, a senior police officer said, adding that this was the first arrest in connection with “toolkit case”. Also Read - Barack Obama, Leonardo DiCaprio team up against climate change

Ravi is a graduate in Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) from Mount Carmel College in Bengaluru, and she also describes herself as co-founder of a group named ‘Fridays For Future India’. She has been regularly writing columns and articles in leading news portals on climate action and is a familiar name in important climate forums frequented by youth activists across the globe.

Earlier last year, in an interview with Auto Report Africa in 2020, Ravi said, “My motivation to join climate activism came from seeing my grandparents, who are farmers, struggle with the effects of the climate crisis. At the time, I wasn’t aware that what they were experiencing was the climate crisis because climate education is non-existent where I’m from. Only when I did my research, did I find out about it.”

However, Disha’s role came under the lens of the Delhi Police after Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg tweeted a toolkit document which the police say had led to the January 26 violence in New Delhi. Though the Delhi Police did not name Thunberg in the FIR, it went ahead to register the case against the authors of the toolkit.

The police later described Disha Ravi as key conspirator in the document’s formulation and dissemination and said that she started a WhatsApp group and collaborated to draft the document.

“In this process, they all collaborated with pro-Khalistani Poetic Justice Foundation to spread disaffection against the Indian state. She was the one who shared the Toolkit doc with Greta Thunberg,” said a senior police officer.

The “toolkit” is a term activists use for a campaign information document.

However, the Delhi Police also said that she asked Greta to remove the main document after its incriminating details accidentally leaked into the public domain. This is many times more than the two lines editing that she claims, they said.

The Delhi Police had registered an FIR on February 4 on charges of sedition, criminal conspiracy and promoting hatred among groups under Sections 124-A, 120-A and 153-A of the Indian Penal Code against the “creators” of the ‘toolkit’, which was shared by Thunberg.

After Disha Ravi has been sent to police remand for five days, sources in Delhi Police said that more arrests are likely, based on the investigation of the arrested accused.

(With Agency inputs)

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