The Evening Wrap: Disha Ravi gets bail in ‘toolkit’ case

The Hindu Newsletter - Here are the biggest news stories of the day [The Hindu Logo](RB9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2hs/link17) [Facebook](RB9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2hs/link1) [Twitter](RB9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2hs/link3) [Youtube](RB9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2hs/link35) [Linkedin](RB9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2hs/link15) [Instagram](RB9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2hs/link14) Tuesday 23, February 2021 [alt_text](RB9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2hs/link34) The Evening Wrap Here are the biggest news stories of the day [alt_text](RB9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2hs/link30) Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying safe. Disha Ravi gets bail in ‘toolkit’ case A [Delhi Court on Tuesday granted bail to climate change activist Disha Ravi](RB9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2hs/link23), arrested for allegedly being involved in sharing on social media a ‘toolkit’ on the ongoing farmers’ protest against three farm laws. The 22-year-old woman was arrested on February 13 and sent to five days police custody on February 14. After the end of the police custody, on February 19, she was sent to three-day judicial custody, which expired on Monday. According to the Delhi police, Ravi is an editor of the “Toolkit Google Doc” and was a key conspirator in the document’s formulation and dissemination. It alleged that she started a WhatsApp Group to make the toolkit doc in collaboration with a pro-Khalistani organisation, Poetic Justice Foundation, to spread disaffection against the Indian state. Ravi, in her defence before the court, said that she had just edited two lines in the toolkit and that she was in support of the farmers and was influenced by their protests as farmers provide food. The bail order of the court said, “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.” It further noted, “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.” Agitating farmer unions object to Delhi Police posters at Tikri protest site [ Farmers stage a protest against new agri laws at Tikri border in New Delhi on February 7, 2021. ] Farmers stage a protest against new agri laws at Tikri border in New Delhi on February 7, 2021. [Farmer unions today objected to Delhi Police putting up posters that allegedly warned off protesters at the Tikri border site](RB9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2hs/link25), even as the force claimed these were not new and only informed the protesters that they would not be allowed to enter the national capital. In a statement, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of farmer unions that is spearheading the ongoing agitation against the three agri laws, said that it is opposed to the police’s move as the protesters were exercising their constitutional right and appealed to the farmers to continue their sit-in peacefully. Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at three Delhi border points — Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur — for nearly 90 days, demanding a complete repeal of the three agri laws and a legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) for crops. “The Delhi Police has placed some posters at the Tikri border protest site where farmers have been warned that they will have to vacate the area. Such posters are irrelevant as farmers have been staging a peaceful protest by exercising their constitutional rights.... “We will oppose the conspiracy to end the protest with these kinds of threats and warnings,” the SKM said in the statement. In the posters, the police have not given any deadline to the protesting farmers to vacate the area. On its part, the Delhi Police said it is a “routine” process. “The posters were pasted at the border area after the protest started. It is a routine exercise. Police have conveyed to them through posters that they are sitting in the jurisdiction of Haryana and they are not allowed to enter the national capital unlawfully,” a senior police officer said. Uttarakhand floods disaster: Death certificates may be issued for missing persons [ NDRF personnel during their ongoing rescue and restoration operations at Tapovan in Chamoli district on February 21, 2021. ] NDRF personnel during their ongoing rescue and restoration operations at Tapovan in Chamoli district on February 21, 2021. The [local administration is considering issuing death certificates to the families of those missing after the flash floods in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli on February 7](RB9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2hs/link28). The death toll has now gone up to 70, while 135 persons still remain untraced. “We are exploring the possibility of issuing death certificates to the families of missing persons to facilitate the processing of various claims. It may take about a month. However, searches will continue,” said a senior Uttarakhand police officer. The identities of 39 bodies have been established so far. In all, 29 body parts have so far been found at different places. The Joshimath police have registered 205 missing person reports. The police have sent the DNA samples of 110 family members of the missing persons and 86 bodies/body parts to the forensic science laboratory in Dehradun for matching. BJP sweeps municipal polls in Gujarat [ Voters undergo thermal screening before casting their votes during the Gujarat Municipal Corporation elections, in Ahmedabad on Feb. 21, 2021. ] Voters undergo thermal screening before casting their votes during the Gujarat Municipal Corporation elections, in Ahmedabad on Feb. 21, 2021. The [BJP has swept the urban local body polls in Gujarat](RB9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2hs/link26), winning all the six municipal corporations in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar for which the results were announced on Tuesday. The ruling party won 69 out of 76 seats in Vadodara, 68 out of 72 in Rajkot, 50 out of 64 in Jamnagar, and 44 out of 52 seats in Bhavnagar in its largest victory in the civic bodies of the state. In Surat, the parties won 93 out of 120 seats while in Ahmedabad, where counting is underway, the saffron party is likely to win at least 160 of the 192 seats in the city. Though the BJP was expected to win all the six municipal corporations, which are under its control for almost two decades, the party’s victory margin of winning more than 80% of the total seats came as a surprise as it completely routed the Opposition Congress in the six main cities of the state. However, the big surprise was spectacular entry of Aam Admi Party (AAP) in its maiden contest in Surat Municipal Corporation, where it has become the main opposition party, winning 27 out of 120 seats while the Congress has drawn a blank for the first time in Surat. Similarly, AIMIM has won seven seats in Ahmedabad in Jamalpur and Maktampura wards, both Congress bastions for years. Tamil Nadu urges Centre to merge all cesses and surcharges [Show of support: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K. Palaniswami, right, and Deputy CM O. Panneerselvam in Chennai recently. RAGU R.]Show of support: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K. Palaniswami, right, and Deputy CM O. Panneerselvam in Chennai recently. RAGU R. [Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on Tuesday urged the Centre to merge all cesses and surcharges](RB9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2hs/link27) with a basic rate of taxes and ensure that States received their legitimate share of revenue. Presenting the interim budget in the State Assembly, Panneerselvam, who holds the Finance portfolio, observed that though revenue to the Centre on account of various levies on petrol and diesel saw a growth of 48% between April and November 2020, Tamil Nadu had received 39.40% less in the corresponding period as its share of Union excise duties on petrol and diesel. Panneerselvam pointed out that while the levy of surcharge on personal income tax, first introduced in 2013-14 and further expanded and increased since, had become a big revenue earner for the Centre, there was no increase in the share for the State. He said these measures, including reduction in the basic customs duty on gold, silver, alcoholic beverages, crude edible oil, coal, lignite, pears, apples, varieties of pulses and specialised pulses, which had been substituted by agricultural infrastructure development cess, had further shrunk the divisible pool of taxes. Reliance expects approvals for oil-to-chemicals business spin-off by Q2 [Photo for representation only.]Photo for representation only. [Reliance Industries Ltd expects to get the necessary approvals to hive off its oil-to-chemicals (O2C)](RB9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2hs/link19) business into a separate unit by the second quarter of the next fiscal year, the company said in a presentation to investors on Monday. The company had initiated the process of spinning off the O2C business at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has caused a slump in fuel demand and weighed on the segment’s recent results. Reliance, owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, will retain full control of the business post-restructuring, the company said in the presentation. The Mumbai-headquartered conglomerate also announced its aim to work with the O2C business to reduce its carbon footprint and become “net carbon zero” by 2035. Delhi riots anniversary: Truth hijacked to serve political interests, says Brinda Karat CPI (M) leader Brinda Karat, speaking on the first anniversary of the Northeast Delhi riots in New Delhi today alleged that there has been a deliberate subversion of justice as truth has been hijacked to serve political interests and to save BJP leaders. She said the BJP’s Kapil Mishra, accused of making inflammatory speeches ahead of the riot, had the temerity to say that if required, he would do it again. “This shows how the government in power has given protection to its leaders who gave inflammatory speeches.” Karat said. She added that the government wants no dissent at all and according to its dictionary, dissent equals anti-nationalism, and anti-nationalism becomes patriotism if you wear a saffron scarf and carry a BJP flag. The CPI (M) demanded an independent, impartial probe into the Delhi Riots. It said that the role of the police has to be questioned and asked how the capital was allowed to burn for five days under the eye of the Home Minister himself. Terrorism is a crime against humanity, says Jaishankar [External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. File]External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. File [Terrorism is a “crime against humanity”, said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Tuesday](RB9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2hs/link24). Addressing the High Level Segment of the 46th Session of Human Rights Council (HRC), he said India’s commitment to human rights is seen in the way the government has handled the pandemic. “Terrorism continues to be one of the gravest threats to humankind. It is a crime against humanity and violates the most fundamental human right, namely the ‘Right to Life’...Terrorism can never be justified, nor its perpetrators ever equated with its victims,” said Jaishankar, highlighting India’s experience “as an inclusive and pluralistic society and vibrant democracy”. The Minister’s comments come days after India reacted angrily to observations by the Special Rapporteurs on Minority Issues and Freedom of Religion or Belief on apparent erosion of human rights in Kashmir and the rest of India. The Ministry had termed the observations as “deplorable”. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The [number of reported coronavirus cases from India](RB9HlHIB91HtGAABeY2hs/link21) stood at 1,10,28,169 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 1,57,962. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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