‘Police leaked private WhatsApp chat’: Activist Disha tellls court
■ Court was hearing Ravi’s plea to restrain police from leaking info
Climate activist Disha Ravi on Thursday petitioned the Delhi high court to stop the police from leaking “any investigation material” accessed as part of the probe to the media, asserting that the police had pre-judged her guilt and had been putting out a “biased and defamatory narrative” about her.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for Delhi Police, told Justice Prathiba M. Singh that it has not leaked any material to the media in relation to its probe against the 21-year-old for her alleged involvement in the ongoing farmers'
protest on the basis of a “toolkit”.
The court was hearing Ms Ravi's plea to restrain police from leaking to the media alleged contents of her chats. She has also sought action against television channels News 18, India Today and Times Now for publishing contents of her alleged private chats with third parties, thereby violating Cable TV Network rules, and directions to restrain all private satellite TV channels from further disseminating any alleged private WhatsApp messages or conversations till the trial ends.
The court issued notices to the News Broadcasting Standards Authority and a few media houses.
She has claimed her arrest in Bengaluru on February 13 by a Cyber Cell team of Delhi Police was "wholly unlawfully and without basis". "Surprisingly, there was significant media coverage of the petitioner's remand hearing and the media seemed to have more knowledge about the time and venue of the petitioner's production than her lawyers," her petition said.
The Delhi police, on Thursday, told the Delhi high court that it has not leaked any material to the media in relation to its probe in the FIR against climate activist Disha Ravi for her alleged involvement in sharing a toolkit backing the ongoing farmers’ protest.
The court was hearing Ms Ravi’s plea to restrain the police from leaking to the media any probe material in relation to the FIR lodged against her.
The submission was made before Justice Prathiba M. Singh by solicitor general Tushar Mehta appearing for the police.
Since there were no counsels representing the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) and some of the media houses named in Ms Ravi’s petition, the court issued notice to them and said it will hear the matter on Friday. The petition has also sought to restrain the media from publishing the
content or extract of any private chats, including those on WhatsApp, between her and third parties. Ms Ravi claimed that her arrest from Bengaluru on February 13 by a cyber cell team of the Delhi police was “wholly unlawful and without basis.”
Her petition has alleged that investigative matters have been leaked to the media and the press briefings by the police are “prejudicial”
and “grossly violative of her right to a fair trial and presumption of innocence.”
It has also claimed that the “media houses have published one-sided defamatory, suggestive innuendos, and half truths about the petitioner.”
The Delhi police, probing the “toolkit Google doc” backing the farmers’ agitation shared by climate activist Greta Thunberg, had arrested Ms Ravi while Mumbai lawyer Jacob and Pune engineer Shantanu Muluk have been granted pre-arrest bail by court.
A Delhi court had, on February 14, sent Ms Ravi to a five-day police custody after the agency said her custodial interrogation was required to probe an alleged larger conspiracy against the government of India and to ascertain her alleged role relating to the Khalistan movement.
A ‘toolkit’ is a document created to explain any issue. It also provides information on what one needs to do to address the issue. This might include information about petitions and details about protests and mass movements.
The cyber cell had lodged an FIR against “proKhalistan” creators of the toolkit for waging a “social, cultural, and economic war against the government of India.” A case against unnamed persons was registered on charges of criminal conspiracy, sedition, and various other sections of the IPC.