A New Delhi magistrate extended the detention of two leaders of India’s youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) movement by two days yesterday, after they were remanded in custody five days ago.
CJP activists and opposition parties have defied a security crackdown to demand the resignation of India’s chief election commissioner, accusing the poll body of manipulating voter rolls to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party.
The commission, which oversees voting in the world’s most populous nation, has denied any wrongdoing.
Television footage showed CJP leaders Ashutosh Ranka, 30, and Saurav Das, 27, being taken away in a blue police van from a police station where the hearing took place. “This is an absolute mockery of the justice system,” the movement’s legal affairs head Ratna Singh told reporters.
Das and Ranka were taken into custody on October 14 for their “alleged repeated attempts to disturb public peace and violate the law”, the police said in a statement at the time.
The pair had jumped security barricades to wave the national flag at Jantar Mantar, a decades-old protest site that police have barred people from using.
“Their alleged attempts to instigate others through social media to engage in similar unlawful activities were also taken into consideration,” the statement said. Jantar Mantar, in the heart of the capital, has been sealed off with yellow metal barricades for more than a week and guarded by security personnel.