Farmers Movement Archive

'No particular name': FIR against creators of toolkit shared by Greta

The Delhi Police registered a case against unknown persons for spreading ‘disaffection and ill-will’ against the Indian government under the guise of supporting farmers’ unions who have been protesting against the recently passed farm bills at Delhi’s border for more than two months.Delhi Police’s special commissioner Praveer Ranjan said that the farmers’ unions representatives have been made aware of the social media handles which were allegedly posting hateful content on social media during the process of negotiations which were held earlier in December and January.“A particular toolkit has come to our notice and taking cognisance of this toolkit Delhi Police has registered a case under Sections 124(a), 153(a), 153 and 120(b) of the IPC (Indian Penal Code). It means spreading disaffection against the government of India and creating disharmony among different social, religious and cultural groups. 120(b) for the conspiracy of executing such a plan,” Ranjan said.“Delhi Police has also registered several cases against those social media handles which have been pushing either fake news or spreading rumours among citizens with the purpose of spreading disaffection and ill-will,” Ranjan said while speaking to reporters.“In the process of social media monitoring, we have come across one particular document which was uploaded on one of the social media handles on one particular platform. This ‘toolkit’ has a particular section in the document titled ‘Prior Action Plan’ and says digital strikes have to be conducted using hashtags before January 26,” he further added.Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg had tweeted a document which talked about the farmers’ protest and how one can support the agitating farmers. She later deleted the tweet and shared a link to a new document saying that the previous tweet had an outdated document.“If you go by the unfolding of events on January 26, including the violence which unfolded, it reveals a copycat execution of the action plan mentioned in the toolkit,’ Ranjan said. He also highlighted that the toolkit aims at ‘waging social, cultural and economic war against the government of India.' He also said that the Delhi Police’s Cyber Crime cell will be conducting further investigation into the case.Several celebrities like environmental activist Greta Thunberg, pop artist Rihanna and model Amanda Cerny among others have tweeted voicing their support for the ongoing protests against the farm laws by farmers’ unions representatives at Delhi’s borders. The farmers who have been protesting for more than two months are demanding a repeal of the the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance, and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. The farmers’ groups believe that these three laws will affect the procurement under the Minimum Support Price system and allow private and multinational companies to make profits off farmers as it will encourage corporate farming.The government has claimed that the laws will increase farmer incomes and said that the recent social media uproar in social media claiming to support the ongoing protests are being done by entities with vested interests and aimed at maligning India’s image at an international level.

Hindustan Times

04-02-2021

India