The Delhi Commission For Women (DCW), a government organisation tasked with investigating possible violations of women's rights, sent a notice to Delhi Police on Tuesday in connection with the arrest of 22-year-old activist Disha Ravi.
Ravi was arrested in Bengaluru, capital of India's southern state Karnataka, by Delhi Police.
DCW alleged that Ravi "was taken to Delhi from Bengaluru by the Delhi Police with no disclosure of her whereabouts, not even her parents (were told)."
According to the Indian law, when a person gets arrested by police from another state, a local police station has to be informed. The Delhi Police are maintaining that all laws and regulations were observed on their part during the arrest.
"It has been further alleged in media reports that Ms. Disha Ravi was produced before the court in Delhi without a lawyer of her choice being present in the court," the copy of the notice obtained by Sputnik, further reads.
"This is a very serious matter," observes DCW.
The commission also asked Delhi Police to explain the reason behind the violations by 19 February.
Meanwhile, Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Verma on Tuesday reiterated that Ravi's arrest was conducted in accordance with the law and denied any lapses in arrest.
While Thunberg’s tweet was later deleted and an updated one posted subsequently, the Delhi Police nevertheless launched a probe and booked unnamed persons for sedition (Section 124A), wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot (section 153), promoting enmity between different groups (section 153A) and criminal conspiracy (section 120B).
The police claim Ravi is also responsible for editing two sentences of the toolkit.
Ravi’s arrest has sparked a massive political controversy, with India’s major opposition parties viewing the decision as another attempt by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to stifle criticism related to the new farm laws.
Thousands of Indian farmers are protesting at the New Delhi border, demanding the scrapping of three farm laws passed by the Narendra Modi government in September last year.
