Two top leaders of India’s Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) have been jailed for five days after being arrested for allegedly trespassing at a protest site in Delhi on Tuesday.
Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka appeared before a magistrate on Wednesday after being detained at Jantar Mantar, a venue for demonstrations that police recently removed from a list of authorised protest sites in Delhi (BBC).
Police have accused the two CJP leaders and activist Ajinkya Shinde of trespassing, breaching a peace bond, violating prohibitory orders and obstructing public officials, which the accused deny (BBC).
The arrests risk further protests by youth supporters amid almost daily demonstrations by opposition groups and student bodies demanding Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over voter list revisions, which critics say favour Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (Reuters).
Read more: The rise of India’s Cockroach Janta Party (The Saturday Paper)