NEW DELHI, Oct 13: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, along with several others, were detained by Delhi Police on Tuesday after they entered the heavily barricaded Jantar Mantar area in defiance of prohibitory orders following its denotification as a designated protest site.
The activists raised slogans demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and claimed to have “reclaimed” the historic venue by unfurling the Tricolour.
According to the CJP, around 11 members, including Das, Ranka and Ajinkya Shinde, were detained and taken to Jaffarpur Kalan Police Station in Dwarka district. Delhi Police later filed an FIR against Das, Ranka, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and other members for alleged unauthorised trespass and breach of a peace bond the three leaders had signed earlier.
Speaking to reporters in Hingoli, Maharashtra, Dipke alleged that the detention amounted to “kidnapping” because police were not allowing lawyers to meet the detainees.
“Saurav, Ashu and Ajinkya are still in detention, and the police are not allowing the lawyers to meet them. How can police stop lawyers from meeting them? This is kidnapping because the police certainly are not following the rule of law,” he said.
Dipke questioned whether unfurling the national flag had become a crime.
“Our team went to Jantar Mantar and unfurled the tricolour there. Since when has unfurling the tricolour become a violation? Those who think that waving the national flag at Jantar Mantar is a violation are traitors,” he alleged.
“How can someone be arrested for unfurling the tricolour? What rule is this? Which country is this? This is the biggest example of a dictatorial mindset.”
He demanded strict action against those responsible and said the CJP’s legal team would approach the court.
Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar issued a standing order on October 11 designating Ramlila Maidan, Burari Ground and CBD Ground as the new protest sites.
Dipke reiterated that if protests were banned there, “the entire country will turn Jantar Mantar.” He planned to reach Delhi on Wednesday and said he would begin agitation from wherever police stopped him.
The detentions occurred amid heightened security following protest calls against Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Meanwhile, in his first remarks on the anti-SIR agitation, Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday told Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi to prepare for a “crushing defeat” in the 2029 general elections.
Shah asserted that the people stand with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA, and claimed the country can see through Gandhi’s alleged plan to get infiltrators registered as voters.
Citing Congress’s recent electoral setbacks, Shah dismissed the opposition’s “negative politics” and maintained that a gathering of cadres does not make Gandhi the voice of the nation. (PTI)