Toolkit accused Nikita Jacob seeks Interim Protection from Bombay High Court

Toolkit accused Nikita Jacob seeks Interim Protection from Bombay High Court

A non-bailable warrant was issued by the Delhi Police against lawyer Nikita Jacob regarding alleged spreading a 'toolkit' related to the farmers' protest. The lawyer has moved to the High Court of Bombay (HC) for seeking interim protection against the Police action.

The Mumbai-based lawyer on 15 February 2021 filed a transit bail plea before the HC against the non-bailable warrant with Delhi Police in the 'toolkit' matter. It was mentioned before Justice PD Naik's bench and it is posted for 16 February 2021.

It was claimed by Jacob in her transit bail petition that the Delhi Police's Cyber Cell has recorded her statement. It was further mentioned in the petition that a team of Delhi Police went to her residence in Mumbai on 11 February 2021 with a search warrant and they seized some of her documents and her electronic gadgets.

The plea stated, "The Delhi Police team also took the passwords of her social media accounts from her. A 'panchnama' regarding all this was also made by the police." It was further said in the plea that "There is an apprehension that despite cooperating with the investigation, the applicant can be arrested due to a political vendetta & media trial."

This probe came a day after climate activist Disha Ravi was arrested and sent to five days of Police Custody. The 21-year-old activist was arrested from Bengaluru in connection with the formulation and dissemination of the 'Toolkit' document, in the ongoing farmers' protest. She was one of the editors of the 'Toolkit' document.

According to reports, Jacob was contacted by the pro-Khalistan leader and Poetic Justice Foundation founder Mo Dhaliwal via his colleague Puneet. The motive was to create a storm ahead of Republic Day. There was a zoom meeting before Republic Day that was attended by Mo Dhaliwal, Nikita Jacob, Disha Ravi and others, said reports.

The Delhi Police issued non-bailable warrants against Nikita Jacob and Shantanu in connection with Greta Thunberg's toolkit case. Following the warrant, Jacob moved to the HC seeking interim protection from police action.

The Delhi Police earlier had sent a communication to Google wherein it sought registration details and activity log of the account through which a 'toolkit' related to the farmers' protest was created and uploaded on the social media platform.

Police have also asked for details from other platforms that were mentioned in the toolkit. Police sought details regarding two e-mail IDs, one Instagram account, and one Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

An FIR had been registered by the Delhi Police against unidentified persons in connection with the creators of the 'toolkit'.