Activist Disha Ravi arrested, police say she shared ‘toolkit’ with Greta

A 22-year-old student and climate activist from Bengaluru, Disha Ravi, was arrested on Sunday by Delhi Police in the case involving “Toolkit” tweeted earlier this month by Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg to show support for protesting farmers.

The police on Sunday accused her of being a key conspirator in the document’s formulation and dissemination and alleged that she was trying to revive a Khalistani group.

She worked closely to draft the document, the Delhi Police said after Disha was taken into custody for five days.

“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.

Disha who was arrested from Soladevanahalli area of Bengaluru on Saturday broke down in the courtroom and told the Duty Metropolitan Magistrate that she did not make the ‘Toolkit’ but only “edited two lines on February 3”.

However, 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.

According to the police, the unfolding of events during the farmers’ protest on 26 January, including violence near the Red Fort, allegedly revealed copycat execution of the ‘action plan’ detailed in the ‘toolkit’.

Delhi Police had registered an FIR on 4 February 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 climate activist Greta Thunberg.

Graduating from Mount Carmel College in Bengaluru, Disha 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. She describes herself as co-founder of Fridays For Future, India.

In an interview to Auto Report Africa in 2020, she is quoted as saying: “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 26 January 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 as key conspirator in the document’s formulation and dissemination and said that she started a WhatsApp group and collaborated to draft the document.

After Disha was 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