Photo: Subeesh Balan സുഭീഷ് ബാലൻ / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Delhi Police on Tuesday morning, October 13, detained Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) chief spokesperson Saurav Das, national spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka and national organisation in-charge Ajinkya Shinde after they climbed over the locked gates of Jantar Mantar, a day after the site was struck off the list of places in the capital where protests are allowed. A senior police officer said the three had arrived with at least 10 others, some of whom got inside carrying the national flag, and that all of them were detained.
A video posted by Ranka on X shows the group scaling the gates and shouting “Bharat Mata ki jai” before police step in. “Jantar Mantar has been reclaimed! We have entered Jantar Mantar and now we are being detained,” Das wrote, urging young supporters to keep up the campaign. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke responded: “You cannot denotify the resistance.”
Why Jantar Mantar matters
On Monday, a Delhi Police circular said Jantar Mantar had been de-notified as a designated protest venue on the recommendation of a committee set up by the Union Home Ministry, and named three replacements: Ramlila Ground, Burari Ground and CBD Ground in east Delhi. The site near Parliament had been the centre of the CJP’s youth-led protests since June, a campaign that ended with the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged exam irregularities.
The party is now demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. On Monday, CJP members went to Parliament Street police station and gave police 24 hours to name a date and time for a Jantar Mantar demonstration. Das, Ranka and Dipke were among those detained during the party’s thwarted march on October 10, and were released the next day on the condition that they keep the peace for a year, the party’s legal team had said.
FIRs over the opposition march
Separately, police have registered two FIRs, at the Barakhamba Road and Tilak Marg police stations, over Monday’s “March for Democracy” by INDIA bloc leaders towards the Supreme Court. Police said no permission had been granted for the march, and alleged that barricades were broken with the help of a mini-truck and that graffiti was painted on roads. The march drew leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Akhilesh Yadav and Mamata Banerjee.
The joint petition that 11 opposition leaders filed afterwards has hit procedural hurdles. The Supreme Court registry has flagged 14 defects in it and asked why the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners S.S. Sandhu and Vivek Joshi have been named as respondents.
Security to stay tight
Delhi Police have written to the Home Ministry seeking to keep 273 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces in the capital until October 20, according to sources, citing possible protests by the CJP, the Bhim Army, student groups and political organisations. The deployment had been due to end on Monday. Police have listed Jantar Mantar, the Election Commission, Parliament House and India Gate among the sensitive locations.
The Supreme Court is also due to hear pleas on Tuesday against the closure of Delhi Metro stations during the protests. What happens to the detained CJP leaders, and whether the conditions of their earlier release come into play, is expected to become clearer once police decide on further action.
