The Delhi Sessions Court on Tuesday granted bail to climate activist Disha Ravi who was arrested in the connection with farmers’ protest toolkit which was tweeted by Greta Thunberg. According to the court, the police investigation made for the case was so far “scanty and sketchy”. 

The 22-year-old climate activist was arrested on February 13 in the connection with the “toolkit” case. 10 days later, Ravi was granted bail by the Delhi Sessions Court-subject to the provision of 2 sureties of Rs. 1 lakh each.  

The Sessions Judge Dharmendra Rana in his bail order said that

“Considering the scanty and sketchy evidence on record, I do not find any palpable reason to breach the rule of bail for a 22-year-old girl who has absolutely no criminal antecedent.”

The court however has not permitted Disha to leave the country without its permission in the near future and to cooperate with the further investigation.

On Tuesday afternoon, the police brought Ravi to the Sessions Court and moved an application for further 4 days of custody. However, the court dismissed the demand and informed the police that Ravi was granted bail. Additionally, “toolkit-case” co-accused Shantanu Muluk has also been moved to an anticipatory bail before the same Sessions court.   

What is the Disha Ravi “toolkit case”? 

On February 13, The Delhi Police alleged that 22-year-old climate activist Disha Ravi was a “key-conspirator” in the formulation and circulation of a document. Furthermore, the police also alleged her to have collaborated with the pro-Khalistani group ‘Poetic Justice Foundation’ to “spread disaffection against Indian State” and shared the document (later, known as a toolkit), with Greta Thunberg. According to the Delhi Police, Disha sent that toolkit to Thunberg using the Telegram app.  

The Delhi Police’s statement said: “Disha Ravi, arrested by CyPAD Delhi Police, is an Editor of the Toolkit Google Doc & key conspirator in document’s formulation & dissemination. She started WhatsApp Group and collaborated to make the toolkit doc. She worked closely with them to draft the doc. In this process, they all collaborated with the pro-Khalistani Poetic Justice Foundation to spread disaffection against the Indian State. She was the one who shared the Toolkit Doc with Greta Thunberg, 

The police made an arrest in Bengaluru and later Ravi was brought to Patiala court. According to Delhi Police Public Relation Officer Anil Mittal, “Ravi has been remanded to police custody for 5 days. The Special Cell is investigating the conspiracy behind the google document- Toolkit. “

They found that Ravi was one of the editors of the toolkit and also a key conspirator in the document’s formulation and sharing. 

What is a toolkit? 

A toolkit is nothing but a set of editable guidelines or suggestions that can be used to implement a task successfully. The contents of a toolkit are different depending on who has formed the toolkit and what their aim was in its creation.  

Usually, toolkits are created for the execution of elaborate social media campaigns. They include step-by-step information as to how a campaign can be promoted through multiple social media channels. Toolkits are also formed for carefully and peacefully implementing a protest. In those toolkits, some reading materials, news articles and protest methods are provided.  

What did the toolkit tweeted by Greta Thunberg say?

The now-deleted toolkit, which was shared by the 18-year-old Great Thunberg had contents that revealed information about urgent actions people could take in the farmers’ law protests and a section titled ‘How can you help?’. 

One exploring the toolkit, one would see links to the website which talked about the ongoing farmers’ protest, another link opened a website which aimed to be a “digital home to exploring geopolitics & ideas about freedom through data, writing, & technology.” 

What was Disha Ravi accused of? 

According to the Delhi Police, the toolkit “seemed innocuous” but had hyperlinks that took a user to websites that defamed the national army. There were also websites like “current genocide alert”, that had information about “genocide in Kashmir” and talked about the Assam citizenship issue.

The Delhi Police when probed into the matter and tried finding out more about the toolkit, found that Disha Ravi was the editor of the Toolkit Google document. Later, Disha Ravi was in Delhi Police custody for editing a toolkit and then sharing it with the globally known climate activist Greta Thunberg.