Bombay High Court Wednesday granted three weeks transit pre-arrest bail to Adv Nikita Jacob in connection with the case registered by Delhi Police over the toolkit shared by Greta Thunberg for farmers protest.
“It is not disputed that Nikita Jacob is a resident of Mumbai and it is also mentioned that Delhi police had recorded her statement, seized her laptop and documents. It is apparent that Jacob had made herself available,” Court observed.
Justice PD Naik pronounced the order today after perusing the order passed by the Aurangabad Bench of the High Court, which granted transit bail to activist Shantanu Muluk, another person implicated in the toolkit case, reported legal website Bar and Bench.
Senior Advocate Mihir Desai appeared for Jacob.
The Court also asked Jacob to furnish a bond of Rs. 25,000.
While the plea was being argued, the Court recorded that Jacob had no religious, political and financial intention to incite violence in Delhi on 26 January and that her house was raided on 11 February for search and siezure.
After the arrest of 21-year-old climate activist Disha Ravi on Sunday in the toolkit case, non-bailable warrants were issued against Jacob and Shantanu Muluk in the matter.
Muluk was granted transit anticipatory bail for 10 days by the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court in connection with the case on Tuesday.
According to Delhi Police, Muluk was the owner of the email account from which the toolkit was created.
“The initial examination of Nikita Jacob revealed that she and her associates, Shantanu Muluk and Disha Ravi, had created the ‘toolkit’ Google document. The email account created by Shantanu Muluk is the owner of this document and all others are its editors,” the police said.
The Delhi police action against activists has caused outrage, with country’s opposition leaders, academics, rights activists and several community leaders calling it “alarming” and an attack on free speech.
