New Delhi: Activists Nikita Jacob and Shantanu Muluk, against whom the Delhi Police has issued non-bailable warrants in the alleged conspiracy involving a toolkit for a peaceful protest, have approached the Bombay high court for relief.Jacob has sought interim protection from arrest and a copy of the FIR filed in Delhi. Muluk, who is from Beed district, told the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court that police personnel had seized material from him without following due process, the Indian Express reported. He also asked for anticipatory bail.The case against the activists, and the arrest of 22-year-old Bengaluru-based climate activist Disha Ravi, has created widespread outrage. The activists have said that they were simply disseminating information relating to the farmers’ protest, including attending Zoom meetings and sharing the toolkit, but being involved in organising or spreading a peaceful protest cannot be termed a conspiracy.Jacob has said she has “no religious, political and financial motive or agenda for researching, discussing, editing and circulating toolkits for raising awareness.” The activist joined Extinction Rebellion – an organisation started by Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg – about two years ago.Jacob, Muluk and Ravi have been part of a number of environmental activism programmes in the past, including the collective action against the Aarey deforestation.This “toolkit” – which the police claims is part of a seditious conspiracy – was in fact a collection of articles, social media handles and information on the farmers’ protest, for anyone wanting to learn about the issue and spread the message.Also read: The BJP Has Its Own Toolkit to Go After Dissidents Which It Uses RuthlesslyEarlier, the Delhi Police had asked Google and some social media giants to provide information about email IDs, URLs and certain social media accounts related to the creators of the “toolkit” shared by teen climate activist Greta Thunberg and others on Twitter in connection with the farmers’ protest.The Cyber Cell had lodged an FIR against unnamed “pro-Khalistan” creators of the “toolkit” for waging a “social, cultural and economic war against the Government of India”. The case 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”.As The Wire has explained in detail, a ‘toolkit’ is prepared for protests often, as it helps remote sympathisers access and participate in the movement, promoting strength in numbers. In a long-term movement, it can be assumed to be a successor of the pamphlet that delineates the ethos of the protest.The fact that the government – including external affairs minister S. Jaishankar – is painting this toolkit as some sort of proof of conspiracy has been questioned by several experts. Retired IPS officer N.C. Asthana has written for The Wire about why the police’s claims are not made out, and its investigations into the matter do not make sense.Speaking to NDTV, retired Supreme Court judge Justice Deepak Gupta said that he could not see anything seditious in the toolkit document that Ravi and others had shared. “Every citizen of this country has a right to oppose the government so long as the opposition is peaceful,” he said.
