It is in my family: Climate activist Disha Ravi discloses real reason for her rebellious nature

File photo

New Delhi: Climate activist Disha Ravi, who was arrested for her alleged involvement in the "toolkit" case being accused of sharing the document on social media related to the farmers' protest, wondered since when did it become a crime to think about planet earth.

"Locked in my cell, I wondered when it became a crime to think the most basic elements of sustenance on this planet were as much mine as theirs," the 22-year-old activist from Bengaluru said in her first statement since she was arrested in February.

In her four-page statement shared on Twitter, she said that by people's reactions she realised that not much is known about climate activism or climate justice. "My grandparents, who are farmers, indirectly birthed my climate activism. I had to bear witness to how the water crisis affected them, but my work was reduced to tree plantation drives and clean-ups which are important but not the same as struggling for survival. Climate Justice is about intersectional equity. It is about being radically inclusive of all groups of people, so that everyone has access to clean air, food and water," she wrote.

Ravi said the human race would be inching closer to its own expiry "if we did not act in time to stop the endless consumption and greed." She wondered why should millions pay the price for the greed of a few hundred.

The activist claimed during her arrest her autonomy was violated and her photographs were splashed all over the news. She also accused some media outlets of declaring her guilty to gain TRP's.

"My actions were pronounced guilty -- not in the court of law, but on flat screens by seekers of TRPs," Ravi lamented.

Disha Ravi was arrested by Delhi police and charged with criminal conspiracy and sedition in connection with the probe into the ‘toolkit’ or the Google document on farmers’ protests.

The Delhi police in its first information report stated that the contents of the ‘toolkit’ led to the violence that broke out in Delhi during the tractor parade by farmers on January 26. She was however granted bail after a court found that there was no inflammatory or seditious material in the document.