Chhavi Bhatia

New Delhi—Disha Ravi, 22-year-old activist who was charged with sedition in the ‘toolkit’ case was granted bail by a Delhi court on February 23, weeks after she was arrested by the Delhi Police from her home in Bengaluru. Additional sessions judge Dharamendra Rana, while granting her bail, said there was “scanty and sketchy evidence” against Ravi and that “I do not find any palpable reason to breach rule of bail for a 22-year-old girl who has absolutely no criminal antecedent”. The court also made some scathing observations in the order, slamming the cops for charging Ravi with sedition as well as making strong remarks on freedom of speech and right to dissent.

Top quotes from the order:

 “The resistance to the bail plea seems to be more of ornamental in nature…Considering the scanty and sketchy evidence available on record, I do not find any palpable reasons to breach the general rule of ‘Bail’ against a 22-year-old young lady, with absolutely blemish free criminal antecedents and having firm roots in the society, and send her to jail.”

1. “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.”
2. In my considered opinion the freedom of speech and expression includes the right to seek a global audience. There are no geographical barriers on communication. A Citizen has the fundamental rights to use the best means of imparting and receiving communication, as long as the same is permissible under the four corners of law and as such have access to audience abroad”.
3. “In the absence of any evidence to the effect that the applicant/accused agreed or shared a common purpose to cause violence on 26.01.2021 with the founders of PJF (Poetic Justice Foundation), it cannot be presumed by resorting to surmises or conjectures that she also supported the secessionist tendencies or the violence caused on 26.01.2021, simply because she shared a platform with people, who have gathered to oppose the legislation. There is not even an iota of evidence brought to my notice connecting the perpetrators of the violence on 26.01.2021 with the said PJF or the applicant/accused.”
4. “The perusal of the said ‘Toolkit’ reveals that any call for any kind of violence is conspicuously absent. In my considered opinion, citizens are conscience keepers of the government in any democratic nation. They cannot be put behind the bars simply because they choose to disagree with the State policies.”