Passport withheld despite following procedure: Disha Ravi

Climate activist Disha Ravi on Monday said her passport was withheld despite her following due procedures and as a result, she was denied an opportunity to attend the COP26 summit, which concluded on Saturday in Glasgow.

The 23-year-old took to Twitter to allege that her passport was withheld.

Speaking to DH, Disha said: “My passport has been withheld. The police said I had not mentioned that I had a pending case even though I had a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Delhi High Court, which I had mentioned while applying for a passport.”

She said she applied for the passport three months ago. Although her initial police report was rejected by the Regional Passport Office (RPO), she was issued a show-cause notice. Disha said she responded to the notice and the RPO accepted it. Another round of police verification is currently pending for her passport.

At the Glasgow climate conference, Disha was supposed to report for a US-based non-profit online magazine. “I wanted to report about COP26, India’s role in the conference and the policies which were made there. I could not do that as the process got delayed. I hope to work with them in the future again,” she said.

Disha was arrested by the Delhi Police earlier this year on sedition charges in connection with a ‘toolkit’ on farmers’ protests. She was granted bail by the Delhi High Court in March.

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