NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Saturday asked police to show evidence and not go by “surmises or conjectures” when it opposed the bail plea of climate activist Disha Ravi, accusing her of being linked to those advocating Khalistan. Police maintained that Ravi was preparing the toolkit and was part of a global conspiracy to defame India and create unrest in the garb of the farmers’ protest.
It said the toolkit was “not innocent, not innocuous” and acted as a gateway to online links defaming the country. But additional sessions judge Dharmender Rana wasn’t convinced and flooded additional solicitor general S V Raju with queries demanding evidence. “What is a toolkit? Can it be incriminating in itself ? What exactly is the evidence linking this lady to the January 26 violence?” the court asked.
Is there any evidence or are we to go by surmises and conjectures?” the court asked at a hearing, at the end of which it posted the bail plea for orders on February 23.ASG Ra- ju submitted that it was not just a simple toolkit. “The real plan was to defame India and create unrest here… she was aware of the criminality of her actions”. Police said a thorough probe is being carried out which will re- veal a “sinister design”. It alleged that Disha deleted WhatsApp chats, emails and other evidence and was aware of the legal actions she could face. “Why did Disha Ravi cover her tracks and delete evidence if she did not commit wrong?” the prosecution said, alleging that this shows her guilty mind and sinister design.
During the hearing, ASJ Rana also questioned police on evidence connecting Ravi with the Khalistan movement. “How can you impute the same intention to me just because I meet certain persons with bad credentials or am emotionally attached to a cause? Just because I approached a dacoit for temple donation, do I become privy to dacoity?” the judge asked, pointing out that Poetic Justice Foundation (PJF) is neither banned, nor is there any FIR against the founders . “Everyone knows Mo Dhaliwal (founder of PJF). Why would you meet with such a person?” asked police.
“No, I don’t know who is Mo Dhaliwal,” responded the judge. ASG Raju submitted that conspiracy can be gleaned only through circumstantial evidence and cited tweets of the accused. But the court wondered if it should “presume that there is no direct link now?” and asked police to show a link between the conspiracy and the actual offence. “I can’t move ahead till I satisfy my judicial conscience,” ASJ Rana said, even as police contended they were still investigating the matter. Appearing for Disha, advo- cate Siddharth Agarwal rejected the allegations made by police and argued there is no evidence to show that the toolkit on farmers’ protest is responsible for the violence on January 26 or to link her with the banned Sikhs for Justice (SFJ). “She is not a rebel without a cause.
Her cause is environment and agriculture and the interlink between them,” Disha’s counsel said, adding that “if the offence is she protested peacefully, or advertised about a peaceful protest and it amounts to ‘sedition’, then she is guilty”. The counsel also joined issue with the allegations in the FIR that yoga and chai were being targeted.
“If I (Disha) prefer kung fu over yoga, do I become a Chinese spy? It is part of the FIR, is that sedition… there is no evidence to link me with Sikhs For Justice, a banned organisation. And even if I meet someone, there is no symbol on him that he is a secessionist,” the defence counsel said. “It’s a very nice English word, conspiracy. I’ve learnt it from Mr Raju himself, ‘jiska koi nahi hota, uska conspiracy hota hai’.”
Advocate Agarwal also assailed police’s claim of a Khalistan conspiracy taking advantage of the farm law protests to cause disruption. However, judge Rana was quick to point out that there could be another possibility in the case. “Dushman ka dushman dost hota hai,” he remarked, outlining the case of the prosecution.
But Disha’s counsel reiterated that there was no evidence. “There’s nobody arrested in connection with the violence at Red Fort who says he was inspired for the same because of the toolkit. They talk about a Zoom call. Is it evidence that I spoke during a Zoom call?” At the fag end of the hearing, ASG Raju rebutted Disha’s claims and alleged that the final toolkit was also shared with PJF, a secessionist organisation which advocates creation of Khalistan.