Disha Ravi: Free At Last
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-02-24 06:19:01
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
View all posts by this Author
That Disha Ravi got bail was not surprising. It was clear from the beginning that despite having no case against her (which the judge has now confirmed), she was arrested as if to punish the growing body of dissenters by setting an example. Her arrest seemed to be more to scare the youth and others who dissent against government policies rather than to get a conviction.
Additional sessions judge Dharmender Rana was scathing in his remarks against Delhi Police for picking up Disha Ravi on "scanty and sketchy evidence". He said that the police had failed to produce "even an iota of evidence" to connect the perpetrators of the violence on Republic Day to the accused.
The judge was even more forthright in saying that "the offence of sedition cannot be invoked to minister to the wounded vanity of governments. Difference of opinion, disagreement, divergence, dissent, or for that matter, even disapprobation, are recognized legitimate tools to infuse objectivity in state policies. An aware and assertive citizenry, in contradistinction with an indifferent or docile citizenry, is indisputably a sign of a healthy and vibrant democracy."
This is the best thing that has happened ever since the ruling dispensation has started using sedition laws for trivial matters. Some judges with spine in the lower courts have also started giving reasoned judgments that show how the government is becoming arrest happy and cannot tolerate dissent. In the instant case, there was no immediate need for arrest. Disha Ravi could have been questioned and the arrest could have happened if she did not cooperate with the probe.
The right to dissent and the right to personal liberty are sacrosanct. People should be taken in custody only if there is enough evidence against them that proves complicity beyond reasonable doubt or if they do not cooperate and there is a chance that they might abscond. In all other cases, interrogation without arrest should be the rule.
As for the government, it has to recognize that a huge number of people in the country, which may even include those who voted it to power, might not agree with all its policy decisions. Instead of crushing dissent with an iron hand, which also involves misuse of law and due process, the government must let a million flowers bloom in the shape of alternate ideas and must not see conspiracies in all agitations.
