Delhi police have alleged that Nikita and Disha Ravi had a Zoom meeting with the reported creator of the toolkit, Mo Dhaliwal, the founder of Poetic Justice Foundation in Canada.
The Delhi police on Friday issued a non-bailable warrant against Mumbai lawyer-activist, Nikita Jacob and an activist named Shantanu in connection with the ‘Greta Thunberg toolkit’ case. According to the Delhi police, Nikita held a Zoom meeting with 22-year-old Bengaluru climate activist Disha Ravi, who has been arrested in the case, and the reported author of the toolkit, Mo Dhaliwal. Mo Dhaliwal is a founder member of the Poetic Justice Foundation (PJF) and based in Canada. The Delhi police, as well as reports, have alleged that Mo Dhaliwal is a “self-confessed Khalistan supporter.” Shantanu is an activist hailing from Beed in Maharashtra. A team of Delhi police reportedly visited his home in Beed, where his parents informed the police that they are not aware of Shantanu's whereabouts. Following this, a warrant has been issued against him. The police are tight-lipped about the charges against him. The police have alleged that the virtual meeting was held four days before January 26, and the three discussed how to create a “Twitter storm” before Republic Day. The police have also said that a WhatsApp group was created to discuss the “toolkit.” It must be noted that ‘toolkits’ are nothing but Google Doc or MS Word documents, that contain basic information on any issue, tweet suggestions and information on what hashtags to use and whom to tag on social media, and are a regular inventory while organising protests online. Various forms of toolkits are also used by social media teams of political parties as well when they need to plan a particular social media campaign. According to the police, since Disha Ravi is a co-founder of ‘Fridays For Future’ campaign, which was inspired by Greta Thunberg’s protest for the environment, she knew the climate activist and took her help to share the protest document on social media. The police have stated that a team had gone to Nikita Jacob’s residence asking her to cooperate in the probe, but since she did not appear before the police, a non-bailable warrant has been issued. A complaint had been filed against Nikita in Mumbai, and the police said they had been probing her role in the ‘toolkit’ case. While the police have claimed that Nikita is a member of a political party, AAP’s National Executive Member Preeti Sharma Menon denied the claim. Nikita Jacob seems to be a figment of someone's imagination. There is no person of that name in @AAPMumbai, or anywhere in @AamAadmiParty And from what I gather no one in Bombay High Court has heard of such a person either. — Preeti Sharma Menon (@PreetiSMenon) February 15, 2021 The Delhi police are probing the document which was shared by Greta Thunberg on social media on February 3, but was later taken down as the dates mentioned in the document were of January. The police had said that the document “indicates a copycat execution of a conspiracy behind the January 26 violence” and have filed an FIR under Sections 124a (seditions), 120b (criminal conspiracy) and 153a (creating hatred between two communities). Also read: ‘Disha is a passionate environmentalist’: Friends, activists shocked at her arrest Disha Ravi was picked up from her Bengaluru residence on Saturday evening and was arrested under these sections on Saturday night. On Sunday afternoon, she was produced before a Delhi court and was sent to five-day police custody. Several political leaders, activists and lawyers have condemned her arrest and have sought her immediate release. Arrest of 21 yr old Disha Ravi is an unprecedented attack on Democracy. Supporting our farmers is not a crime. — Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 15, 2021 Arresting a young woman for retweeting a tweet supporting the farmers is undemocratic. I stand with Disha Ravi against this onslaught on freedom of expression #FreeDishaRavi #IndiaBeingSilenced — Kanimozhi (கனிமொழி) (@KanimozhiDMK) February 15, 2021 If arresting a 21 year old environmental activist for sharing a social media tool kit is not a sign that we have descended into police state territory, I don't know what is ? And the intention is also to threaten young people of this country#DishaRavi — T M Krishna (@tmkrishna) February 14, 2021 As the Govt goes after our idealist youth, its time to rephrase Marx: Youth of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your fear! https://t.co/5utOsa0WaT — Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) February 14, 2021 Also read: Academics, activists condemn Disha Ravi's arrest, say govt distracting from real issues
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