In a statement published on social media, Disha Ravi recalled how she was not provided with a lawyer in the first hearing in court and sent to police custody.
Activist Disha Ravi (File)
Climate activist Disha Ravi, arrested last month by Delhi Police in connection with the farmer protest toolkit case, on Saturday issued a statement addressing her arrest, saying that her autonomy was violated and she was pronounced guilty by TRP-seeking channels.
Charged with sedition for her alleged role in the creation of an online “toolkit” that police said contained action plans used to foment violence during the farmers’ protest, Ms Ravi was picked up on the night of 13 February from her Bengaluru home, triggering an international outcry about the crackdown on dissent in India.
She was granted bail after ten days in police custody by a court which slammed police for their scanty and sketchy evidence.
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In a statement published on social media, Disha Ravi recalled how she was not provided with a lawyer in the first hearing in court and sent to police custody.
“As I stood in that courtroom, desperately searching for my lawyers, I came to terms with the fact that I would have to defend myself. I had no idea whether there was legal assistance available… Before I knew it, I was sent to 5 days in police custody,” she said.
“It’s no surprise that in the days that followed, my autonomy was violated; my photographs were splashed all over the news; my actions were pronounced guilty~ not in the court of law, but on flat screens by seekers of TRPs [Television Ratings Points]. I sat there, unaware of the many abstractions made of me in order to satiate their idea of me,” she said
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