Arrest of Disha Ravi, a 22 year old activist, continued to bring rage amongst people and activist groups.
On the 16th of February, a Karnataka based activist group filed a complaint against Anil Vij, the Haryana Health Ministerfor ‘hateful’ tweet against Disha Ravi.
Anil Vij in his tweet said, ‘Whosoever has the seed of anti-nationalism in their minds should be completely exterminated.”
The Karnataka based group of activists called his tweet a hate speech against Disha Ravi.
The activist group said, “We are filing this complaint against Anil Vij, Haryana Home and Health Minister for openly calling for the killing of Disha Ravi, a 21-year-old climate activist and co-founder of Fridays for Future and other so-called “anti-national.”
The complainant further said, “This tweet was widely covered by media houses across the country.”
The complaint said by asking for such extermination of people who Vij thinks have “seeds of anti-nationalism in their minds” he is directly targeting Disha Ravi and opposing the constitutional provisions of Right to life and dignity under Article 21 and Right to liberty under Article 19 of the Indian Constitution.
The complaint added that the Minister is duty-bound to respect and abide by the Constitution which he has “conveniently forgotten” in his criminal intimidation of a 22-year old activist and others.
The filed complaint read, “The minister has wilfully ignored the concept of due process of law by calling for the extermination of an “accused” who is yet to undergo a trial. The tweet has been widely shared and continues to be shared even as this complaint is being drafted. In this regard, we seek that FIR under Section 153A, 503, 504, 505, and 506 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 be registered against Anil Vij for unconstitutional, criminally intimidating, hateful statements calling for open encounters on the social media platform Twitter.”
On the night of the 13th of February, the Delhi Police arrested Disha Ravi, a 22 year old activist from Soladevanahalli, Bengaluru.
The police alleged Ms. Ravi of editing and circulating a document tweeted by climate activist Greta Thunberg, that authorities say is anti government. The tweet was related to the ongoing farmers protest against the three farm laws in India.
The Delhi Police registered a FIR on the 14th of February on charges of sedition, criminal conspiracy and promoting hatred among groups under Sections 124-A, 120-A and 153-A of the Indian Penal Code against the “creators” of the ‘toolkit’, which was later shared by global climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Swedish climate activist Thunberg recently tweeted a document, explaining her stand and supporting the protesting Indian farmers. In her tweet, she also mentioned the new three farm laws would be harmful for farmers of India, putting their livelihoods at stake and would result in benefitting corporations. The document of Ms. Thunberg was also called a toolkit for creating awareness about the farmers’ protest.
Ms. Ravi shared the same document, following which the New Delhi Police arrested her. She is kept in remand until hearing, which is likely to be held on the 16th of February.
Stay tuned for further updates.
