Delhi Police write to Zoom, DCW issues notice over Disha's arrest, Commissioner says procedure followed

New Delhi: As the Delhi Police continued its line of investigation in the toolkit case, writing to officials of Zoom and seeking details of an alleged meeting that took place on January 11, the Delhi Commission for Women headed by Swati Maliwal issued a notice to the Delhi Police, seeking an explanation as to whether any arrest procedures were violated when 22-year-old climate activist Disha Ravi was brought in from Bengaluru.

However, Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava on Tuesday morning spoke to reporters and clarified that all required procedures were followed in her arrest as well as remand proceedings. He said the arrest was as per the law, "which doesn't differentiate between a 22-year-old or 50-year-old".

While senior officials told Millennium Post that Disha was arrested and produced before a court with 24 hours as per Section 74 of the CrPC but according to legal experts, the CrPC has a separate procedure for arrests made outside the jurisdictions of the warrant-issuing court. In these cases, the arresting agency is supposed to procure a transit remand from the local court before bringing the accused to the jurisdiction of the court that issued the warrant.

Citing media reports and claims by activists, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) said Ravi was arrested and taken to Delhi from Bengaluru by police and her whereabouts were not disclosed, not even to her parents. It has also been alleged that police did not present her at a court in Bengaluru for transit remand, before bringing her to Delhi, it said.

Taking cognizance of media reports, the panel in a statement, issued on Tuesday, also said that Ravi was produced before a court in Delhi without a lawyer of her choice being present there.

The DCW has asked the Delhi Police to provide a copy of the FIR registered in the matter, reasons for allegedly not producing Ravi before a local court for transit remand, reasons for allegedly not providing a lawyer of her choice when she was produced before the court here, and a detailed action taken report, the statement said.

The commission has asked police to provide the information by Friday, it added.

Meanwhile, on an application made by Disha's lawyers, a local court here allowed the accused to meet her family for 15 minutes every day along with 30 minutes to meet her lawyer, while in police custody. The court also asked the police to provide her a copy of the FIR and allowed her to have warm clothes and books while in custody.

Significantly, with the Delhi Police yet to arrest Pune-based engineer Shantanu Muluk and Mumbai-based lawyer Nikita Jacob, the former was granted transit anticipatory bail for a period of 10 days, protecting him from arrest by the Delhi Police till then. However, Jacob's plea for the same bail in the Bombay HC was heard on Tuesday and reserved for judgment till Wednesday, with an assurance that she won't be arrested before the court's decision.

Interestingly, Jacob has said that the toolkit she is being hunted down for did not have any mention of violence, nor did it have any mention of taking over the Red Fort, according to her lawyer's arguments in court. She had earlier also said that the toolkit was made just to inform people of the farmers' protests.