Toolkit case: Bail pleas of Nikita Jacob, Shantanu Muluk in Bombay High Court today
Jacob, in her statement to the police, has accepted calling for support for agitating farmers on social media. However, she denied sharing any information with Thunberg and added that the document was an “informational pack.”
The Bombay High Court will on Tuesday hear the bail petitions of advocate and activist Nikita Jacob and Shantanu Muluk, who are facing arrest for their alleged involvement in preparing and a toolkit that details digital support for farmers protesting against Centre agricultural laws.
The Delhi Police have issued a non-bailable warrant against Jacob and Muluk for their role in gathering support for the farmers’ protests on social media and sharing details with activists globally, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Jacob, in her statement to the police, has accepted calling for support for agitating farmers on social media. However, she denied sharing any information with Thunberg and added that the document was an “informational pack” and was not intended to incite violence. She told the police that the toolkit was being prepared by XR India volunteers for presenting the whole picture with a simple breakdown for an international audience.
The activist has sought protection from arrest for four weeks, interim protection from any coercive action and a direction to the Delhi Police to share her with a copy of the FIR registered against her.
The Delhi Police have alleged that Jacob and Muluk created the Google toolkit in collaboration with another 22-year-old activist Disha Ravi, who was arrested from Bengaluru on Saturday and was sent to five days in police custody by a court in Delhi.
The police claim the information about the duo was revealed by Ravi during her interrogation in Bengaluru. “The email account created by Shantanu is the owner of this doc and all others are editors,” Prem Nath, joint commissioner of police of the cyber cell, said.
The officer added that information from Jacob’s phone shows that she and Ravi had sent it to Thunberg on the Telegram app.
According to police, Ravi had later asked the Swedish activist to delete the post carrying the toolkit, which “indicates a copycat execution of a conspiracy behind the January 26 violence”, after the document’s details accidentally got into the public domain.