An Instagram post incorrectly claims that the police in India have accused climate activist Greta Thunberg of promoting hostility.
The image, which was uploaded to the platform on February 4, refers to the Swedish teenager’s tweets about a farmers’ protest around the capital New Delhi (here). She shared a “toolkit” for people who wanted to help and said it was created by those on the ground during the demonstrations (here).
Meetings against controversial agricultural reforms have been going on for months on the outskirts of Delhi, leading to violent reporting (here) and attracting the attention of celebrities, some of whom have attracted recent criticism from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (here).
In the post on Instagram on February 4, it is alleged that Thunberg was booked ‘by Delhi police’ for her tweets, and later ‘charged with promoting hostility’. It added: ‘Delhi police have filed an FIR [first information report] against teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg over her recent tweets about farmers’ protests in India. ”
It is not true. The Delhi Police Department said it had launched a criminal investigation into the “creators of the toolkit documentation” that Thunberg shared (here) – but Thunberg himself not mentioned. Special Commissioner Praveer Ranjan told local media that the FIR was not about the 18-year-old and added that the police did not mention ‘anyone’ in the report, as it was only against the creators of the toolkit (here ). According to Delhi police, the toolkit was created by a Khalistani group, which is part of the Sikh separatist movement.
VERDICT
Untrue. Greta Thunberg was not arrested, charged or ‘booked’ by the Indian police. Delhi police say the first information report is against the designers of a set of tools that Thunberg shared online.
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