Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Monday accused the Delhi Police of “mentally torturing him and his family” and challenged them to release an unedited video of the alleged ill-treatment, a day after the forces shared a clip to claim they had offered to provide him with all possible assistance following his grandmother’s death in Maharashtra’s Hingoli.
Dipke, who was held on Saturday hours ahead of the CJP’s protest against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, alleged the police pressured him to sign his arrest papers, warning him that he would remain in jail for a long time.
He also claimed the police tried to force him to inform his parents about his preventive arrest, despite his repeated requests to meet his lawyer.
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“I repeatedly requested them to let me meet my cousin, return my phone and allow me to meet my lawyer. Why are they not releasing the entire video? They are showing an edited version. If they have the courage, they should release the full footage of the incident. How could they deny me my basic rights? Meeting a lawyer is a fundamental right,” he told reporters.
“At 3.30am, they woke me up and asked me to sign the papers, saying I was going to jail for a very long time and should sign them immediately. I told them again that I would not sign anything until I was allowed to meet my lawyer,” he added.
He also claimed the police asked him to tell his parents that he would remain in jail for an extended period. He said he refused to comply, saying he did not even know where he was and had not been allowed to meet his lawyer.
“They wanted to cause further distress to my parents, who were already grieving my grandmother’s death. The Delhi Police were trying to mentally torture me and my family,” he alleged.
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There was no immediate comment from the Delhi Police at the time of filing this report.
At a media interaction on Sunday, Deputy Commissioner of Police Neha Yadav shared a 1.45-minute video of officers informing Dipke about his grandmother’s death and offering to arrange travel for him to attend the last rites.
On October 10, Dipke’s 85-year-old paternal grandmother, Savitribai Shankarrao Dipke, died following a prolonged illness. He was in the Capital to participate in a planned CJP protest at Jantar Mantar when he was detained by Delhi Police from an aircraft at Indira Gandhi International Airport after arriving from Mumbai. As a result, he could not attend her last rites on October 11.
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Following his release, Dipke flew to Nagpur and travelled by road to Santuk Pimpri village in Hingoli district. After reaching his ancestral home, he visited the cremation ground to pay last respects to his grandmother.
The CJP founder also denied reports that his bond carried a condition barring him from protesting for a year, saying he had not signed any such undertaking.
“There are no such conditions. We will soon hit the streets again. Until Narendra Modi’s dictatorship ends, we will continue our protest,” he said.