THE JUDGE who granted bail to Disha Ravi on February 23rd was doing Narendra Modi, India's prime minister, a favour. The jailing of the 22-year-old environmentalist a week earlier had made his government look mean and, more damaging still, silly. For the supposed sin of sharing a Google document that listed ways for activists to support protests by Indian farmers, Ms Ravi was dragged from her home in Bengaluru and flown to Delhi. Police charged her with sedition, a crime that can carry a life sentence. Government mouthpieces portrayed her list as the dastardly "toolkit" for a global conspiracy aimed at ripping India apart. Other conspirators include exiled Sikh separatists, Greta Thunberg, a teenage environmental activist, and Rihanna, a Barbados-born pop star who has been depicted as an inveterate foe of India since she expressed mild concern for the farmers' well-being in a recent tweet.
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