NEW DELHI: Delhi Police Commissioner S N Shrivastava on Tuesday said the arrest of climate activist Disha Ravi was made in accordance with law which “doesn’t differentiate between a 22-year-old or 50-year-old”.
Talking to reporters at an event here, Shrivastava said it is wrong when people say that there were lapses in the arrest of the 22-year-old activist.
“Disha Ravi’s arrest has been made in accordance with law which doesn’t differentiate between a 22-year-old or a 50-year-old,” the police chief said.
Meanwhile, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Tuesday issued notice to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Cyber Crime Cell of Delhi Police over the arrest of Disha Ravi.
Taking suo motu cognisance of the matter, DCW in the notice letter sent to Delhi Police sought reasons as to why a transit remand was sought from a local court before arresting Disha Ravi.
It further asked the Cyber Cell to provide a copy of the First Information Report registered in the matter and reasons for allegedly not producing Ravi before the local court for transit remand and why a lawyer of her choice was not produced before the court in Delhi. Considering the gravity of the matter, the woman panel requested Delhi Police to reply to Commission by February 19.
“It is extremely sad and unfortunate if Disha has been arrested because of her support for the protesting farmers,” said DCW chief Swati Maliwal.
However, the Delhi Police said transit remand is a requirement of police, not of Law. A senior ranking police said, “The transit remand is not required. Why should Delhi Police require a transit remand? As per law, in any arrest, you have to produce the accused before the concerned magistrate where the case is registered, in 24 hours. Now, the case is registered in Delhi. Let’s say, we arrest someone from anywhere and we produce the accused in front of a magistrate in 24 hours, there is no irregularity.”
The official added, “Transit remand is our (police) requirement. It is not a requirement of law.”
what the police say...
Delhi Police claim that Disha Ravi had sent the toolkit to Greta Thunberg through the Telegram app, and also “coaxed her to act on it”. Ravi along with Mumbai lawyer Nikita Jacob and Pune engineer Shantanu created the toolkit, according to the police
what student protesters say...
Toolkits have been a common tool of agitation and the malicious ploy to term it an ‘international conspiracy’ is BJP’s way of defaming the mass farmer protest, said the student members of AISA who staged a protest outside police HQ on Tuesday.