Who is Disha Ravi ? 8 Things To Know About Activist Arrested for Thunberg Toolkit

The 21-year-old climate activist Disha Ravi is in the spotlight after her arrest by a team of Bengaluru police on Saturday. The Police have made accusations against Ravi that she distributed the 'toolkit' which was led by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and is now famously being called the Greta Thunberg Toolkit. The student-cum-activist, Ravi was 'picked up' for questioning from her residence regarding the 'toolkit' to build momentum against India's farmers protest.

According to Hindustan Times, Delhi police is also looking for two more suspects in the case, Shantanu and Nikita Jacob, and raids are being conducted in Mumbai and other places. ANI reports that a non-bailable warrant has been issued against the two.

Ravi, on the other hand, has been named as a "key conspirator" in the document's formulation and dissemination. As per the police, Ravi and her co-conspirators "collaborated with pro-Khalistani Poetic Justice Foundation to spread disaffection against the Indian State."

Here are eight things to know about Disha Ravi -

• Disha Ravi is one of the founding members of the Fridays For Future India organisation.

• She is an active participant in the protest of lack of action on the climate crisis. After her efforts were posted on social media. Her message spread like wildfire.

• The Fridays For Future movement began in August 2018, after Greta Thunberg and other young activists sat in front of the Swedish parliament every school day for three weeks, to protest against the lack of action on the climate crisis, according to the website.

• The group comprises college students and young working professionals who are working towards highlighting the climate crisis and demanding leaders to find solutions, brought together by Ravi.

• Ravi is also a writer for many youth climate editorials.

• She graduated from Mount Carmel College in Bengaluru.

• Disha Ravi was arrested by the police and was taken to the station for questioning regarding disseminating a social media toolkit from Greta Thunberg for supporting the 2020–2021 Indian farmers' protests.

• The climate change activist currently works for Good Mylk, a plant-based food company.

• The police claims Ravi had been deeply involved in the execution of the Toolkit plan. "If you go by the unfolding of events of January 26, it reveals a copycat execution of the action plan," the Delhi Police had said as per a report. "The call was to wage economic, social, cultural and regional war against India," Delhi Police Special Commissioner Praveer Ranjan had said.

In a recent interview with Citizens' Matter, Ravi has, "The science on climate change is constantly changing and upgrading. Our new demands are more ambitious than the details listed out by the Paris Agreement, and they need to be too."

After the news spread through Sunday, social media started seeing reactions. Lawyer Karuna Nundy tweeted, "21 year old climate activist, Disha Ravi, has been arrested for sharing a social media toolkit in support of the Farmer's Protest. Disha's the daughter of a single mother. Allegations of criminality are ludicrous, to arrest in such a case more so."

The Investigation

There investigation is into who all help Greta Thunberg allegedly spread the toolkit and mobilise support. Reportedly, Delhi Police had asked social media giants to provide information about email ids, URLs and certain social media accounts related to the creators of "toolkit". The format in which this toolkit was created is a Google Doc.

On February 3, global climate activist Greta Thunberg tweeted the "toolkit" in the form of a doc, which had information on how to show support for the farmers' protest against the Indian government's farm laws. She was among the many global icons to have spoken up on social media against India's farmer protests including Rihanna, Susan Sarandon and Meena Harris.