Mumbai court stops arrest of Thunberg ally

Protesters continued to march through the streets of New Delhi Wednesday (February 17) condemning the arrest of 22-year-old environmentalist Disha Ravi.

Meantime, a Mumbai court granted bail Wednesday to an associate of Ravi, whose arrest for promoting an action plan for farmers' protests has caused outrage across India.

Police had sought the arrest of Nikita Jacob, a Mumbai-based lawyer, for allegedly working together with Ravi on a so called "tool-kit" or a document that it said was used to incite violence during a mass protest by farmers in Delhi last month.

Ravi, an activist linked to climate-change campaigner Greta Thunberg, was arrested over the weekend on charges of sedition and remains in police custody.

But Jacob petitioned a court in Mumbai to stop the police from carrying out her own arrest warrant.

Jacob's lawyer Sanjukta Dey, told reporters:

"The court has granted her three weeks' interim relief," adding "there is nothing in the tool kit about violence, it is only for creating awareness about farm laws.''

Thunberg tweeted a link to the "tool-kit" in early February, which drew international attention to the farmers' campaign against the Indian government's move to deregulate agriculture produce markets and open them to private players.

She later deleted that post.

Ravi's arrest comes at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government faces allegations it is suppressing dissent.