In connection with allegedly being involved in sharing a "toolkit" on social media related to the farmers' protest, a Delhi court on Sunday sent a 21-year-old climate activist to five days police custody.
The 21-year-old climate activist, Disha Ravi, is from Bengaluru.
Ravi, arrested by a Cyber Cell team of the Delhi Police from Bengaluru on Saturday, was produced before a court here and police sought her seven days' custody.
Disha Ravi, was arrested by a Cyber Cell team of the Delhi Police from Bengaluru on Saturday, a senior police officer said.
The police said her custody was required to probe an alleged larger conspiracy against the government of India and to ascertain her alleged role relating to the Khalistan movement.
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During the hearing, Ravi broke down inside the courtroom and told the judge that she had edited only two lines and that she wanted to support the farmers' protest.
Duty Magistrate Dev Saroha allowed the Delhi Police to quiz Ravi for five days.
While seeking her custody, the police told the court that the activist had allegedly edited the "toolkit" on February 3 and many other people are involved in the matter.
Interestingly, this is the same toolkit for which Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was booked by the Delhi Police, earlier.
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, details about protests and mass movements and so on. Read more
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Earlier, the Delhi Police had asked Google and some social media giants to provide information about email id, URLs and certain social media accounts related to the creators of the "toolkit" shared by Thunberg and others on Twitter in connection with the farmers' protest.
The Cyber Cell had lodged an FIR against "pro-Khalistan" creators of the "toolkit" for waging a "social, cultural and economic war against the Government of India".
The case against unnamed persons was registered on charges of criminal conspiracy, sedition and various other sections of the Indian Penal Code, the police said.
Addressing a press conference earlier, a senior Delhi Police officer said initial investigation linked the document with a pro-Khalistan group named "Poetic Justice Foundation".
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".
The "toolkit" was aimed at spreading disaffection and ill-will against the government of India and creating disharmony among various social, religious and cultural groups, the police had added.
(With PTI inputs)
