The TLDR: The Delhi police arrested 22-year-old Disha Ravi at her Bangalore home. The charge: She conspired with a Khalistani group to create a toolkit aimed at waging “economic, social, cultural and regional war against India.” But no charges have been filed and the FIR is missing. Yet Ravi has been sent to judicial custody for five days. The bizarre circumstances of this case have serious implications for democratic freedom in India. 

Wait, first tell me about Disha

The basic details: She is a graduate of Mount Carmel college in Bangalore, and works as a culinary experience manager with GoodMylk—which aims to make affordable plant-based food. Her fellow activists describe her as “a daughter of a single mother, an avid animal lover, sole earning member of the family.”

Ardent climate activist: Ravi—along with two other like-minded women in Bangalore—founded the India chapter of Fridays for Future. It currently has around 150 members, including 20-30 in Bangalore. She was featured In the Vogue UK as an activist of colour speaking out against environmental racism. For more, watch her speak to author Gaye Kimball about her activism and worldview:

Fridays for Future: The global youth movement to battle climate was inspired, of course, by Greta Thunberg—who rose to fame when she started skipping school on Fridays to protest anti-environmental policies. The India chapter has been involved in campaigns to save the Mollem forests in Goa, elephant conservation zone in Uttarakhand and Aravali mountains near Delhi. Point to note: Ravi wasn’t exactly a blind Thunberg fangirl, saying:

“It is not that Greta does not deserve the attention she gets—she definitely does but it is also important to recognize that there are many people who started this and indigenous communities in the world were probably the first.”

Not the first time: FFF India first attracted the government’s ire when they opposed the draft version of the Environment Impact Assessment 2020—which proposed significantly loosening environmental protections. 

• The group launched an automated campaign that bombarded the Environment Ministry and Minister Prakash Javadekar with emails opposing the EIA. 
• The Delhi police blocked their website, claiming that its contents are “dangerous for the peace, tranquility and sovereignty of the (sic) India.”
• Most notably, it invoked a highly stringent anti-terror law: “The publication and transmission of such objectionable contents is a cognizable and punishable criminal offence under Section 18 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.”
• The police later withdrew the notice, saying it had been sent by mistake. Then they issued another one under the Information Technology Act, and then dropped the case entirely.

Ok, what happened this time?

Here’s a quick timeline leading up to Ravi’s arrest:

• On February 3—soon after tweeting in support of the farmer protests—Thunberg tweeted out a toolkit that explained how people can show support for the movement. She then deleted that tweet saying the toolkit was being updated.
• On February 4, Thunberg tweeted out an updated toolkit.
• On the same day, the Delhi police filed an FIR against the unnamed “pro-Khalistan” creators of the “toolkit” for waging a “social, cultural and economic war against the Government of India.” 
• But the charges relate to the first toolkit, not the updated version.
• Ravi is the first person to be arrested in connection to this FIR. 

The arrest: is unusual in many ways. She was arrested in Bangalore and taken to Delhi the same night. She was then produced in front of a magistrate and sent to judicial custody for five days. As a leading lawyer noted, there was no counsel present to defend Ravi, nor is there any evidence of transit remand issued by Bangalore courts to allow the Delhi police to take her away. Also peculiar: 

“Till late Sunday night, neither the remand application nor order was made available to the media. Unusually, the FIR in the case has also still not been uploaded by the police though more than a week has passed since it was filed.” 

Just as disheartening: this clip of a weeping Ravi being swarmed by reporters as she’s taken into custody:

What is she accused of, exactly?

In a series of tweets, the Delhi police laid out its case, claiming:

• The original toolkit—contained in a google document—“indicates a copycat execution of a conspiracy behind the January 26 violence. The call was to wage economic, social, cultural and regional war against India.”
• Ravi is an editor of the shared document and a “key conspirator” in its “formulation & dissemination.” Also: “She started WhatsApp Group & collaborated to make the toolkit doc. She worked closely with them to draft the doc.”
• In doing so, Ravi collaborated with a “pro-Khalistani” group called Poetic Justice Foundation “to spread disaffection against the Indian State.” 
• Ravi shared the toolkit with Greta Thunberg—who, btw, is not mentioned in the FIR. And Ravi also asked Greta to remove the original toolkit “after its incriminating details accidentally got into public domain.”
• In court, the prosecutor claimed that the toolkit was created to revive pro-Khalistan groups in the country—and that a mobile phone was recovered from her but she had deleted all the data from it.

The ‘incriminating details’: Indian Express has details of the original toolkit which doesn’t seem particularly incriminating. But the police focused on this bit in their press conference:

“According to the police, the ‘toolkit’ has a particular section that mentions ‘digital strike through hashtags on or before January 26, tweet storms on January 23 onwards, physical action on January 26 and watch-out or join farmers march into Delhi and back to borders.’”

Indian Express too flagged this very section in its February 6 explainer:

“In the Prior Action section, the toolkit mentions sharing ‘solidarity photos and video messages’ with the above mentioned email id, ‘preferable by January 25’; a ‘tweet storm’ on January 23, and protesting ‘near Indian Embassies, Government offices, Media houses (or even Adani-Ambani offices) globally’ on January 26. It is this section that the police say seems to indicate that the violence on January 26 was premeditated and part of a conspiracy.”

What the Bangalore police says: Apart from allegations laid out by the Delhi police, Bangalore police sources told The Print:

“[T]he operation involved tracking her social media handles, in which she was found violating the law by disseminating the ‘toolkit’. She has been booked on charges of sedition, criminal conspiracy and spreading hatred.

 

‘We have not found any previous record of Disha being part of any physical protests. She was not on the police radar until this arrest. We assisted the Delhi Police in tracking her as is the formality,’ said Bengaluru’s Deputy Commissioner of Police.”

Point to note: When produced in court, Ravi claimed in tears: "I was just supporting farmers… I supported farmers because they are our future and we all need to eat." She also said that she didn't create the toolkit, but only made two edits to it.

And what’s the Khalistani angle?

Ah, that has to do with Canada-based Poetic Justice Foundation that was set up 11 months ago—and its founder MO Dhaliwal. The police claim that the toolkit was created by them. And the reason why Dhaliwal is considered Khalistani, well, he said so in a Facebook post:

“I am a Khalistani. You might not know this about me. Why? Because Khalistan is an idea. Khalistan is a living, breathing movement. A movement towards an independent Punjab, rooted in the Anandpur Sahib Resolution—a beautifully progressive and optimistic doctrine for a self-governing state if there ever was one.”

But Dhaliwal insists this does not mean he or his organisation supports violence or extremism:

“We have no Khalistani agenda. What we promote is dialogue and free speech — as guaranteed in the constitutions of real democracies. We promote dialogue, whether that’s on the viability of Khalistan, or whether it’s on the perceived rise of right wing, radical nationalism in India.”

The bottomline: Both Rupi Kaur and Meena Harris have spoken out in support of Disha Ravi. But Greta Thunberg has not said a word as yet. Mo Dhaliwal has changed his handle to read ‘toolkit’ and RTing everything related to the case. But none of it is likely to do much for the young woman in custody—who is the only one paying a high price for her participation in global activism.

Reading list

This is the kind of case where it is best to draw on one’s own judgement. Indian Express is the only available source with details of the original toolkit. You can find the shorter, updated one here. Also: read the email responses from Mo Dhaliwal about his foundation. The Wire does a good job of pulling together all the details—with links to other reporting. Also in The Wire: A former senior police officer argues that there is no legal basis for charges against Ravi or anyone else associated with the toolkit. The Telegraph has the statement put out by a collective of activists—which is unsigned, btw.