Order on Disha’s bail reserved for Tuesday

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Saturday reserved its order on the bail plea of 22-year-old Disha Ravi, who is facing sedition charges for allegedly amplifying violence during a farmers’ protest by creating an online “toolkit”, even as the climate activist’s counsel said there was no evidence to show that the document was responsible for the violence on January 26.

Even as additional sessions judge (ASJ) Dharmender Rana asked the Delhi Police to present anything that could link the “toolkit” with the violence and, consequently, the conspiracy for which Ravi was charged, the police said the case was still

being investigated.

Ravi was arrested from Bengaluru on February 13 by Delhi Police for allegedly creating and sharing the protest toolkit backing the farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s new farm laws. Delhi Police claimed on Monday that Ravi, along with Mumbaibased lawyer Nikita Jacob and Pune engineer Shantanu Muluk, created the toolkit and shared it with others “to tarnish India’s image” and that “pro-Khalistani” elements were included in the document.

The two have already been granted transit anticipatory bail by the Bombay high court.

If highlighting the farmers’ protest globally was sedition, then she was “better in jail”, activist Ravi told the Delhi court.

During the three-hour hearing, the judge asked the police whether they had any evidence that the “toolkit” incited violence during the tractors’ rally.

To this, additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju told the court that in a conspiracy, people could have different roles. He said that someone inspired by the toolkit could have been instigated to commit violence. Raju told the court that the document will have to be read along with the hashtags and links it contained.