Despite widespread outrage, Delhi Police chief says Disha Ravi’s arrest made in accordance with law

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, Shrivastava said it is wrong when people say that there were lapses in the arrest of the 22-year-old activist.

Ravi was arrested from Bengaluru on Saturday in connection with a protest toolkit backing the farmers' agitation.

Police claimed that she had sent the toolkit to teen climate activist Greta Thunberg through the Telegram app, and also "coaxed her to act on it".

But her arrest drew flak from every corner, particularly lawyers and human rights activists. Senior lawyers in Bengalore claimed that her arrest was illegal from the very beginning. They objected to the fact that Disha was not produced at the court in Bengalore where she was arrested for a transit remand, nor was she provided a legal counsel in Delhi where she was taken into police custody.

"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 Delhi Police chief said. He said Ravi has been sent to five-day police custody and the matter was being probed.

Ravi along with Mumbai lawyer Nikita Jacob and Pune engineer Shantanu created the toolkit and shared it with others to tarnish India's image, the Delhi Police had said on Monday.

The data was also deleted, police claimed, adding that Ravi's Telegram account shows many links related to the toolkit had been removed.

Non-bailable warrants have been issued against Jacob and Shantanu.

With PTI inputs