By Sushil Kutty
Young climate activist Disha Ravi is in a barred cell somewhere in the labyrinth of the Delhi Police. What do the police want her to confess to? The charges levelled against her speak of sedition, conspiracy and spreading hatred. The question is, what exactly does ‘remand to police custody’ amount to? What interrogation methods are used by the police? Are accused denied food, water; are they deprived of sleep? Movies tell harrowing tales of people in police custody. Member of Parliament Sadhvi Pragya, who was in police custody, has given graphic details of ‘custodial interrogation.’ Is Disha Ravi getting a taste of Sadhvi Pragya’s experience?
Of course, the police will not bang her head on the cell walls to force out a confession. That’s medieval stuff. These days there are refined ways to keep an accused on the brink. Psychological stuff that play on the mind – keep the mind on the edge. Are the police playing psychological games with Disha Ravi? But when confessions made under duress cannot be considered evidence, why do courts give police custody?
The Delhi Police is emphatic that Disha Ravi was at the core of the anti-farm laws agitation with foreign players, alleged Khalistani terorrists. The question is why did Disha leave the Whatsapp chat with Greta Thunberg intact, but chose to delete the ‘Whatsapp Group’? Somehow doesn’t seem to add up.
The police have to get the names of people in the “deleted” Whatsapp Group if they hope to make progress in the investigation and prove their charges right. This means they need Facebook, which owns Whatsapp, to cooperate. Reports are the police have sought Facebook’s help to unravel and lay bare the deleted ‘Whatsapp Group,’ get the names out to speak to them.
Meanwhile, media reports on Disha’s arrest and her police custody posted on Facebook have drawn considerable support for the 21-year-old in the ‘comments’ sections. It was only late in the night that so-called bots in the BJP IT Cell noticed this to execute a counterattack. Winning the digital battle is crucial to win the war.
Disha Ravi probably wouldn’t know that while in police custody, but the Delhi Police sure are giving the impression that they have the case tied up – that Facebook and Google are cooperating with them and are with the Government in quashing this attempt to unseat an elected government.
Yes, for the Modi Government, the farmers’ agitation is no longer limited to the farm laws, it’s an international conspiracy to unseat another right-leaning government. Period. Maybe. Maybe not. The fact is every time sense gains ground that the farmers’ agitation is losing ground something unravels to put it back on the front-burner.
It happened when the Red Fort was invaded. And it happened when Rihanna & Mia tweeted and the ‘toolkit’ was accidentally “leaked” by Greta. Now, it’s the Disha Ravi phase and likely would soon open to the Nikita Jacob-Shantanu Muluk chapter.
The duo are on the run and the police are apparently in hot chase! Are they? Why is it that no heads have rolled in the Delhi Police for letting go of Jacob and Muluk despite having Jacob in plain sight for a while? It’s criminal that the Delhi Police allowed a suspect, two actually, to abscond. Meanwhile, Disha Ravi’s freedom could depend on the arrests of these two!
Yes. Why not? Editing a toolkit is not murder or manslaughter, capital crime! If editing is crime, then half the journalists in town would be behind bars and the other half would submit stuff not fit to publish. Fact is, so far, the Delhi police haven’t produced anything to link Disha Ravi to the shenanigans surrounding the farmers’ agitation and the Red Fort violence.
Also, now, politics has tainted the farmers’ agitation. The Narendra Modi Government triggered the farmers’ agitation by enacting the three farm laws. The opposition parties saw the overwhelming pick-up to the stir and leaped into the fray. Then, as sentiments veered in favour of the farmers, the ruling dispensation injected ‘nationalism’ into the mix with Red Fort happening and the ‘insult to the tricolour’ on Republic Day.
Both government and opposition playbooks have been in full power-play, and turning the tables on each other has become the routine, the order of the day. Right now it’s ‘nationalism/patriotism’ versus the ‘innocence of youth. Ever since Disha Ravi’s arrest the opposition and ‘independent media’ haven’t stopped talking of and highlighting the plight of ‘young Disha’.
Yes, how can any Government put behind bars a young and vulnerable 21-year-old? Disha’s pictures add to the pathos. Yes, the BJP and the Modi Government are being cornered for trampling on the rights of youth, jailing them for opposing the rampant exploitation of the country’s resources by rapacious crony capitalists.
Yes, over 70% of India’s population is youth – the young who are at the forefront of change. Narendra Modi and the BJP have been using ‘nationalism’ to tap the youthful vote-bank to win elections and remain in power. The opposition parties see an opportunity to use the same young vote-bank against the ruling dispensation. Disha Ravi’s arrest has spontaneously brought together both opposition parties and “independent” media on the same youthful platform! And young Disha Ravi is showing them the direction – the ‘disha.’ (IPA Service)