Following the arrest of a 21-year-old ‘climate activist’ named Disha Ravi by the Cyber Cell of Delhi Police, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor came forward in support of her. Disha, the founding member of Swedish activist Greta Greta Thunberg’s Fridays For Future’s India chapter, was arrested on Saturday for editing and distributing the ‘toolkit’ that was accidentally shared on Twitter by Thunberg. She has now been sent to five-day judicial custody.
Despite being well-aware that the toolkit was meant to foment disharmony in the country, liberals have extended their support to the Disha. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor tweeted on Sunday, “Activists in jail while accused terrorists are on bail. Wondering how our authorities would commemorate this case on the anniversary of Pulwama attacks? You have the answer in this pair of headlines.”
The Congress leader shared two news headlines, one highlighting the arrest of Disha Ravi on Saturday and the other pointing out the bail handed over to terror-accused suspended Jammu and Kashmir DSP Davinder Singh. Shashi Tharoor tried to draw a false equivalence between the two cases to suggest that while those with terror charges are scout-free, the government is somehow rounding up ‘activists’ in jail.
In his hurry to target the Modi government and country’s investigative agencies for taking action alleged terror sympathisers, Tharoor openly peddled false propaganda by conveniently ignoring the details of the case registered against suspended cop Davinder Singh.
The Truth about Davinder Singh’s bail
Davinder Singh was arrested along with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorists Naveed Babu and Asif Rather on the 11th of January 2020 when they were travelling together in a car. Later, it was reported that he was on the payroll of the Islamic terrorist organisation. Subsequently, his case was handed over to the NIA. The NIA had taken over the case on the 18th of January.
It is important to note that the Court granted bail to Davinder Singh and lawyer Irfan Shafi Mir in connection with the case filed against them by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police in June last year. The bail was granted after the court noted that the charge-sheet was not filed even after the mandatory statutory period of 90 days had passed. The accused had to furnish a personal bond of Rs. 1 lakh each with two sureties of each amount.
Most importantly, the bail was granted by the court only in the case filed by the Delhi Police. There is a separate case that was registered against him by the National Investigation Agency in which he has not been granted bail and thus, he did not walk out of Jammu jail, where he is currently lodged. Davinder Singh, though has secured bail in a case filed by Delhi Police, has remained incarcerated because of a separate case filed against him by the National Investigation Agency. Hence, he did not walk out of the jail or remained scout free, as alleged by the Congress MP.
Case registered against Shashi Tharoor for peddling fake news
On January 30, the Delhi Police filed a case against journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and 6 others in connection to the violence on the occasion of India’s 71st Republic Day. As per reports, the First Information Report (FIR) was lodged at the IP Estate police station. While speaking about the case, DCP (Central Delhi) Jasmeet Singh said that the FIR was registered for creating disharmony and spreading false information on Republic Day about a farmer dying due to police firing.
Toolkit exposed nexus between NGOs, overseas network, political parties and Khalistanis
The toolkit Greta posted on Twitter kicked up a storm and revealed deep-knitted nexus between international celebrities, NGOs, media houses and terrorist organisations directly linked to Khalistani movement. There was enough propaganda material in the toolkit to run widespread campaigns against India.
Praveer Ranjan, Special Commissioner (Crime Branch), Delhi Police had said that initial investigation revealed the toolkit was linked to Poetic Justice Foundation which has close links with Khalistani movement and has been termed as a pro-Khalistani organisation. The founder of PJF has openly supported Khalistani movement and had claimed these protests are just a beginning. “The ‘toolkit’ exposes the conspiracy by an organised overseas network to instigate the farmer protests,” Ranjan added.
