Photo: Subhashish Panigrahi / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
A habeas corpus petition has been filed in the Supreme Court asking for Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke, co-convener Saurav Das and spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka to be produced before the court and freed. The three were detained in Delhi on Saturday, October 10, before they could reach the party’s protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Delhi Police released the thousands of people held during the day-long crackdown, but Dipke, Das, Ranka and YouTuber Dhruv Rathee remained in custody late on Saturday night. Rathee, who lives abroad and had come to join the protest, was detained at his home in Gurugram.
What the petition asks
The plea was filed under Article 32 of the Constitution by Gaurav Bharti, the CJP’s coverage coordinator, through advocates Rajesh G. Inamdar and Shashwat Anand. It was lodged on Saturday evening, the advocates said, because the detainees had not been released as expected. It seeks a hearing on Sunday before a special bench sitting at 10.30 am.
- Disclosure of everyone detained, the legal basis for each detention, the officers responsible and the grounds given to them.
- Their present whereabouts, along with arrest records, police station diaries and movement registers.
- Preservation of CCTV footage from the airport, police stations and lock-ups, and of police control-room logs.
Its central argument is that refusing permission for a demonstration cannot, on its own, justify detaining organisers, lawyers, supporters or would-be participants wholesale. The Union government, the Delhi government, senior Delhi Police officers and the states of Haryana, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh are named as respondents.
How the three were picked up
Dipke, Das and Ranka were taken into custody at Indira Gandhi International Airport soon after their flight from Mumbai landed, with police boarding the aircraft to detain them. The CJP’s national organisation in-charge, Ajinkya Shinde, later wrote to the Delhi Police Commissioner asking where they were being held.
Delhi Police have defended refusing permission for the Jantar Mantar protest, saying in a video posted on X that the CJP broke a signed undertaking during its June-July agitation demanding the resignation of then Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Why it matters
The protest targets the Chief Election Commissioner over alleged irregularities in the special intensive revision of electoral rolls. Saturday’s crackdown saw former chief ministers Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee, Pinarayi Vijayan and Manik Sarkar detained, and drew concern from the UN human rights office, which India rejected as interference.
What happens next
The Supreme Court had already scheduled a special Sunday sitting on challenges to the mass detentions and the shutdown of transit services in Delhi. The CJP has called on supporters to march to Jantar Mantar again from 10 am on Sunday, while activist Sonam Wangchuk has said he may consider a fast or a padyatra if the leaders are not released.
