Toolkit case and recent developments
Why In News?
A recent tweet by the Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg supporting the farmers’ agitation in Delhi has brought a Canada-based outfit Poetic Justice Foundation an alleged pro-Khalistan outfit nto focus.
What is Poetic Justice Foundation and when was it formed?
PJF is an 11-month-old organisation as it was formed in March, 2020
Its Main objective is to create awareness and dialogue around human rights and social justice issues that have intersections with the South Asian diaspora.
What are its activities?
The outfit is quite active on social media and raises questions over human rights. Currently, it is majorly involved in farmers’ protests and has created a website called AskIndiaWhy.com. Questions like — Why is India killing its farmers? Why is India killing its minorities? Why is India killing its own democracy? are asked on the website.
Why its under the scanner of law enforcement agencies?
Law enforcement agencies says that it is pro-Khalistani organisation because its founder MO Dhaliwal, who is also director of PR firm Skyrocket, a digital branding creative agency in Vancouver, himself encourages Khalistan movement.
Disha Ravi gets bail in toolkit case:
Ravi was charged with Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code that deals with criminal conspiracy along with Sections 124A (sedition) and Section 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony).
A Delhi court granted bail to climate activist Disha Ravi days after she was arrested from Bengaluru for allegedly editing a social media document, or toolkit, about the ongoing farmer protest against three farm laws.
What Court had to say in this case while granting bail to Disha Ravi
• The court granted the bail saying there was “scanty” and “sketchy” evidence to back charges of sedition against Ravi.
• It asserted that citizens could not be jailed simply because they disagreed with government policies.
The court also said the call for any kind of violence was conspicuously absent from the toolkit, and no evidence was on record to suggest Ravi subscribed to secessionist ideas.
• Activists have repeatedly said the toolkit is an innocuous document used by social media campaigns for strategy and planning.
• The judge said citizens are the conscience-keepers of the government in any democratic nation.
• He added they cannot be put behind bars simply because they choose to disagree with the state policies.
• The judge said the offence of sedition cannot be invoked to minister to the wounded vanity of the government.
• The court said difference of opinion, disagreement, divergence, dissent, or for that matter, even disapprobation, are recognised legitimate tools to infuse objectivity in state policies.
Even our founding fathers accorded due respect to the divergence of opinion by recognising the freedom of speech and expression as an inviolable fundamental right. The right to dissent is firmly enshrined under Article 19 of The Constitution of India.”
Court cited Kedar Nath case (1962) which says there must be either actual violence or the incitement to violence associated with the words.
Background:
Disha Ravi was arrested by the Delhi Police from Bengaluru and later sent to five-day police custody for allegedly editing a ‘toolkit’ shared by Greta Thunberg.
Disha is a member of ‘Fridays for Future’, an organisation under the government’s scanner from protesting the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2020.