Disha Ravi arrested in India
Disha Ravi, a 22- year-old vegan who helped to clean up lakes, plant trees and campaigned against plastic, loved animals and spoke out against sexism and capital punishment in India’s southern city of Bangalore, and one of the founders of the local wing of Fridays For Future, a global movement begun by climate change activists Greta Thunberg, was jailed at the week for sharing a document intended to help farmers protest against new agriculture reform laws. The police say she was a “ key conspirator” in the formulation and dissemination” of the document. The “ Toolkit”, which suggested ways of helping the farmers, was tweeted by Swedish climate activists Greta Thunberg. “ The call was to wage economic, social, cultural, and regional war against India,” the police said. They say Ms. Ravi “ Collaborated” with separatist groups to “spread disaffection against the Indian State”. In Court, Ms. Ravi was accused of sedition and conspiracy, broken down, and told the judge she had merely edited two lines of the document, But police believe she shared the document with Ms. Thunberg and then asked her to remove it after it was “ accidentally” leaked. The court remanded her to police custody.
Ms. Ravi’s arrest has sparked a firestorm of protest and shocked many Indians both in India and abroad. The chief minister of Delhi an opposition party has called the arrest “an unprecedented attack on democracy”. Some asked, “how editing publicly available documents that help people coordinate views disagreeing with those of the government can be an act of sedition”.
In July, the Delhi police temporarily blocked the website of Fridays For Future India, describing its content as “ objectionable” and depicting an “unlawful or terrorist act”. The result was swamping the environment ministry with thousands of emails in protest against environmental law. “ In India, people continue to suffer because of laws that are anti-people. We live in a country where dissent is suppressed. We in Friday For Future India were labeled terrorists for objecting to the law. Only a government that puts profits over people would consider asking for clean air, clean water, and a liveable planet, an act of terrorism. Mr. Modi has convinced everybody that everything he is doing is good. There are so many questionable things about his governance. Not just in terms of equal rights but environmental rights or human rights”. Ms. Ravi told the Guardian interviewer.
A Delhi court on Tuesday allowed Disha Ravi’s application seeking access to her lawyer, talk time with family during the police custody, warm clothes, books, and home-cooked food.
Living in a low-level neighborhood in a city that is notorious for flooding during rains. She works for a Bangalore-based food company website.