Toolkit Case: Court Gives Delhi Police One Week To File Reply To Nikita Jacob

Nikita Jacob Toolkit case: The Patiala House Court on Tuesday granted one week's time to Delhi police to file a response on Nikita Jacob's plea seeking anticipatory bail. The court will next hear this matter and another anticipatory bail plea of a co-accused, Pune-based engineer Shantanu Muluk, on March 9. Jacob is charged with the case of sedition.

Delhi police have alleged that Mumbai-based activist Jacob, Bengaluru environmentalist Disha Ravi and Muluk had edited the “toolkit” related to the farmers' protest. It was shared by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg on social media on February 3.

While Ravi was granted bail on February 23, the court on Tuesday gave time till March 9 to Delhi Police to file a detailed reply to Jacob's plea. She had been granted protection from arrest for three weeks by the Bombay High Court on February 17.

Ravi, Muluk and Jacob were booked for alleged sedition and other charges.

Police have alleged that the trio was involved in the “formulation and dissemination” of the document, intending to tarnish India’s image. They were allegedly in direct link with the Republic Day clashes in Delhi during the farmers' tractor rally.

Earlier, Jacob, who is a Mumbai-based lawyer, had confessed that she attended a Zoom meeting before Republic Day and Poetic Justice Foundation founder MO Dhaliwal and Ravi were also present there. In a document submitted by her lawyer, she claimed the “toolkit” was prepared by Extinction Rebellion (XR) India volunteers with the intention to make the international audience aware of the whole picture. Disha Ravi Toolkit Case: All You Need to Know

Cops further noted that the activists named in the case were connected through a woman associate of Khalistani sympathiser, MO Dhaliwal, who runs an organisation called Poetic Justice Foundation. Police claimed that the trio is the “key conspirator” in connection with the “toolkit” case and “collaborated with pro-Khalistan Poetic Justice Foundation to spread disaffection against the Indian State.” Read about Nikita Jacob here.

A Delhi Court on March 9 extended the protection from arrest period for both Muluk and Jacob till the next hearing date on March 15. The two accused requested time to go through the elaborate response of the Delhi Police to their anticipatory bail plea applications. The police, which opposed their bail pleas, have been directed not to take any coercive action against Jacob and Muluk.

Feature Image Credit: Bar And Bench