Arrested Activist Disha Was 'passionate about Climate Change'

Bengaluru: Disha Ravi, the 22-year-old environment activist now in police custody, is known to be very knowledgeable in her field - climate change - she was well versed with the subject, according to those who knew her well.

The Delhi Police arrested Ravi late on Saturday from Bengaluru and now she had been remanded to police custody by a court in Delhi, for five days. She is part of 'Friday For Future' (FFF) worldwide climate change activism network and the co-founder of the FFF movement in the country.

An activist who used to take part in most of her campaigns told IANS on condition of anonymity that when it came to campaigning for climate change, she used to be the first one to arrive and last one to leave from the venue. "She is one of the very rare breed of dedicated activists in the city who wore her heart on her sleeve," the activist explained.

The activist categorically ruled out giving his name as he feared that police might come after him for speaking in favour of Disha.

He added that most of Disha's friends have put their phones on silent mode or they are not picking any calls since the news broke. "All Whatsapp groups have become silent, in which she and her friends were active," the activist said.

Another activist claimed that she was raised by a single parent, her mother, Manjula, but other than this many of her friends not know much about her personal life. "As she became popular in activism circles only around 2019 and due to metropolitan culture, many do not speak or reveal much about their personal life, unless they are close friends," he said.

Meanwhile, Mukund Gowda, a citizen activist, told IANS that he came in contact with her activism only in late 2019 when he was part of the Save Tree campaign and since then he remained in touch with her till mid-2020, when Covid hit the world. "Since corona days, activism more or less shifted to social media sites due to Covid norms. Therefore, we remained in touch with each other through Whatsapp Groups, where it was discussed only about save tree campaigns," he said.

According to him, she was more interested in teaching schoolchildren about the impact of climate change. "She used to come well prepared to school functions to deliver her lecture and she used simple language to convey her thoughts to young minds," he said.