Disha Ravi

Disha A Ravi is an Indian youth climate change activist and organizer for the Fridays For Future India.

She gained increased international attention when she was arrested on 13 February 2021 for alleged involvement with an online toolkit related to Greta Thunberg and the 2020–2021 Indian farmers' protests. The toolkit, which is a standard social justice organizing toolkit was alleged to foment unrest by the Indian government.

Background
Disha, 21 years, is a youth climate activist from Bangalore, India, and is one of the founders of Fridays For Future India. She focuses on bringing voices to communities in need. She started her activism because the climate crisis affected her family. She is an author of multiple editorials and articles for international youth climate activists. She was also featured in a September 2020 British Vogue magazine profile of four activists of colour working against environmental racism.

Ravi once told Auto Report Africa, "We live in a country where dissent is suppressed [...] We in Fridays For Future India were labelled terrorists for objecting to the draft environmental impact assessment (EIA) notification. Only a government that puts profit over people would consider asking for clean air, clean water and a liveable planet, an act of terrorism."

Ravi graduated from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore. Disha is a vegan and was working for a vegan start-up before her arrest.

Arrest
Here’s an updated toolkit by people on the ground in India if you want to help. (They removed their previous document as it was outdated.)

On 4 February 2021 Greta Thunberg tweeted in support of Indian farmers and in another tweet linked the toolkit claiming that it was being used "by people on the ground in India". Following media reports of Indian authorities filing a case against her (actually the original creator), Thunberg tweeted, I still #StandWithFarmers and support their peaceful protest. No amount of hate, threats or violations of human rights will ever change that. #FarmersProtest".
 * 1) StandWithFarmers # FarmersProtest [LINK] February 4, 2021

According to Scroll.in the toolkit is "a routine document used by social justice campaigners to raise awareness about issues and suggest strategies to proceed". The toolkit explains that it is "meant to enable anyone unfamiliar with the ongoing farmers protests in India to better understand the situation and make decisions on how to support the farmers based on their own analysis." The toolkit suggests action to be taken including "Organis(ing) an on-ground action near the closest Indian Embassy, Media House or your local Govt [...]." The crackdown on Ravi also affected the Fridays for Future India website.

On 13 February 2021, Disha was picked up for questioning from the jurisdiction of Soladevanahalli police station in Bengaluru by a team from the Delhi Police for allegedly disseminating the social media toolkit, which was allegedly meant to create unrest in India under garb of supporting the 2020–2021 Indian farmers' protests. She was sent to 5-day police custody. The police have stated that the toolkit outlined plans that resembled violence that unfolded on 26 January 2021 in New Delhi during the tractor parade and that the investigation is linked to the pro-Khalistani group Poetic Justice Foundation. "The call was to wage economic, social, cultural and regional war against India," Delhi Police Special Commissioner stated. On 14 February the public prosecutor claimed in court that this arrest was part of a larger conspiracy. Disha denied as much stating "I was just supporting farmers [...] I supported farmers because they are our future and we all need to eat".

Reactions
On 14 February, over 50 Indian academics, artists and activists released a joint statement in support of Disha. On 15 February, The New Indian Express referred to her as "Bengaluru’s Greta." Former Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh tweeted, "Completely atrocious! This is unwarranted harassment and intimidation. I express my full solidarity with Disha Ravi." The farm union Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) issued an official statement that condemned Ravi's arrest and called for her "immediate unconditional release," and SKM leader Kavitha Kuruganti stated, "it is atrocious that such action was taken because of a toolkit, which is simply something that alerts citizens to what they can do to support the farmers." Youth-based environmental collectives also issued a statement demanding Ravi's immediate release that included, "To imply that climate change activists are a danger to the peace and harmony of this country in a political climate that is highly polarized is to play fast and loose with their safety and security, especially when there is absolutely no proof to back up this claim." P. Chidambaram, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Sitaram Yechury, Anand Sharma, Shashi Tharoor, Meena Harris, Siddharth, Claudia Webbe, Bill McKibben, Lucy Siegle, Trisha Shetty, Rupi Kaur, Karuna Nundy, and Mihir Sharma spoke out on Twitter against Ravi's arrest.

Senior advocate Rebecca Mammen John criticised the arrest stating that the Delhi police had not obtained a transit remand from the Bangalore court and questioned whether the case diaries and arrest memo were examined. The lack of legal counsel for Disha was also criticised. Other legal experts such as Colin Gonsalves and senior advocate Saurabh Kirpal have also spoken against the arrest.