NEW DELHI: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has condemned the denotification of Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site, calling the move a serious setback for the right to peaceful assembly and democratic accountability.
CJP also condemned the detention of its leaders and volunteers on Tuesday morning after they entered the site carrying the national flag and demanding the immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in electoral rolls. The announcement of denotification came on October 12, the same day CJP representatives approached Parliament Street Police Station to submit a letter seeking a date and time for their proposed peaceful protest at Jantar Mantar.
The outfit said it had offered the police the choice of scheduling the demonstration and sought a response within 24 hours. The subsequent order that Jantar Mantar would no longer be a designated protest venue has raised serious questions about access to public spaces for peaceful dissent. On Tuesday morning, CJP co-convenors Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, National Organisation In-charge Ajinkya Shinde and other party members entered the site and were detained by Delhi Police.
“You cannot denotify the resistance. If the government believes that removing Jantar Mantar from the list of designated protest sites will silence people demanding accountability, it has misunderstood what this movement stands for. Jantar Mantar is not merely a location on a map. It is where citizens have gathered to question those in power, and no administrative order can erase that democratic impulse,” said Abhijeet Dipke, Founder and National Convenor of CJP. (ANI)
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