Toolkit case: 'Justice has been done,' says father after Disha Ravi’s bail

Father of Disha Ravi on Wednesday said his daughter did not do anything wrong after a local court in Delhi granted bail to the climate activist in the toolkit case. The 22-year-old Ravi was released from Tihar jail in Delhi on Tuesday evening.

"Justice has been done. My daughter had done nothing wrong. We believe in our country's judiciary," news agency ANI quoted her father Ravi Annappa as saying. "We are not connected with anybody. We are only asking this basic question about the climate. I am an Indian, we have to respect the nation's rules and regulations," he added.

In a major setback to the Delhi Police, the sessions court at Patiala House Court granted bail to Ravi on grounds that evidence presented before the court is not sufficient to establish a link between the toolkit and the Delhi violence. Evidence on record was not sufficient to keep a 22-year-old "young lady" with absolutely no criminal antecedents in custody, said the judge as he ruled the verdict.

"The offence of sedition cannot be invoked to minister to the wounded vanity of the governments," additional sessions judge Dharmender Rana also said. He further noted that citizens are "conscience keepers" of government in any democratic nation and they cannot be put behind bars simply because they choose to disagree with the state policies.

In an 18-page order, Judge Rana made some hard-hitting observations while terming the evidence produced by the police as “scanty and sketchy".

On February 13, Ravi was arrested from her Bengaluru residence by Delhi police. The police had claimed that Ravi created the toolkit which aimed to spread misinformation about India. The police had also alleged that the toolkit, first publicised by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg on Twitter, also instigated the Republic Day violence during the farmers' tractor rally in Delhi. She was arrested under the sedition law.

Following the court's verdict, her mother also said that it had reinforced her faith in the judicial system of the country. She also said that she is happy and relieved that her daughter is coming back home, as per the PTI report. "I am happy that she got bail. It has reinforced our faith in the system," Disha's mother Manjula had said in Bengaluru.

Ravi used to volunteer for Fridays for Future (FFF), an organisation founded by Thunberg. She used to help with the organisation's event management work in Bengaluru.