New Delhi: The arrest of 21-year-old activist Disha Ravi in the ‘toolkit’ matter related to the ongoing farmers’ protest sparked a debate that dominated prime time Monday night. From NDTV 24×7 and Times Now to ABP News and News Nation, channels discussed the controversy over her arrest.
Mirror Now, meanwhile, shed light on rising fuel prices.
Discussing the arrest of climate activist Disha Ravi on charges of sedition and conspiracy, on NDTV 24×7′s ‘Reality Check’, Deepak Gupta, former Supreme Court judge, said: “One may or may not agree with protesters but to say that this is sedition is totally not understanding the law.”
Vikas Singh, senior advocate at the Supreme Court, added, “This is showing that the State is becoming extremely intolerant of dissent.”
On Ravi’s police remand without reportedly having a lawyer of her choice present at the hearing, senior SC advocate Sidharth Luthra argued: “Are the rights of a detainee or arrestee increasingly becoming only paper rights? This has become a serious procedural and human rights issue.”
At Times Now, there was a different point of view.
“I may find most of the laws that spawn out of our Constitution as draconian, that’s my view. But that doesn’t mean those laws are not applicable,” author Anand Ranganathan told anchor Rahul Shivshankar.
“One may have the right to be a silly anarchist but not the right to accept money from or (to work) with banned terror outfits, if that turns out to be the case post-investigation,” he added.
Political analyst Sumanth Raman said: “If Disha Ravi was found to be collaborating with a banned organisation or a proscribed terror organization, individual, I have absolutely no problem with police action.”
Mirror Now considered the sky-rocketing fuel prices.
“As far as state governments are concerned, the Government of India has withheld GST arrears. Punjab hasn’t been cleared of their GST arrears for months. This is an insensitive, arrogant government who wants to squeeze the middle class at the expense of the rich,” said Congress’ Aadil Boparai.
BJP’s Raman Malik countered this: “We shouldn’t forget that since April 2020, we’re sitting at a 245 per cent increase in crude prices. Government revenue comes from taxes and when the economy is on a standstill, taxes are also on a standstill.”
At ABP, anchor Rubika Liyaquat also looked into Disha Ravi’s arrest.
First, Liyaquat gave her take on what exactly the “toolkit” is. “According to the police, those pages in which the conspiracy to destroy India were written down is the toolkit,” Liyaquat said.
Then, the anchor linked the chronology of events mentioned in the toolkit to what happened during the farmers’ Republic Day tractor march.
“There were instructions to tweet against India, globally,” alleged Liyaquat.
On News Nation, anchor Deepak Chaurasia was angry — as usual: “Why question the action taken against those indulging in anti-national activities and those supporting it?”
The channel asked viewers to vote Yes/No on — “Is it right to investigate those accused in the toolkit case?”
“How does age matter if someone has done things against the country? Why is your party questioning her arrest?” Chaurasia asked Congress’ Alka Lamba.
Lamba starts by saying, “The country wants a discussion on the farm laws, LPG price hike,” only to be interrupted by Chaurasia who asked her not to give a “speech”.
“Law, police and government aren’t doing what they are supposed to do, we have seen it in the illegal arrest of Nodeep Kaur,” Lamba said.
“Police are working under pressure, not functioning in an unbiased manner, as it should…” she added. “If 21-year old Disha Ravi is so dangerous then I think, instead of buying Rafale, they should get a toolkit made by BJP’s troll army,” she concluded, sarcastically.