New Delhi, Oct 13 Cockroach Janta Party leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, along with a few others, were detained by police early Tuesday after they entered the Jantar Mantar area, defying prohibitory orders after it was denotified as a protest site, and raised slogans against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
“You cannot denotify resistance,” CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said, tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the outfit described its action as reclaiming Jantar Mantar and their right to protest, saying that its members had entered the heavily barricaded site and hoisted the Tricolour there.
“Fortress Jantar Mantar has been reclaimed,” said a CJP statement.
The youth-led organisation, which started with raising issues related to education and carried out a 36-day sit-in at Jantar Mantar leading to the resignation of then education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over irregularities in NEET exams, condemned the move to denotify the protest site.
Earlier, Dipke, Das and Ranka were detained on Saturday after their flight landed in Delhi following a major security clampdown by authorities that thwarted a planned protest by the CJP at the Jantar Mantar to press for CEC Kumar’s resignation. They were released a day later on the condition that they would not “breach peace” for a year.
However, the defiant CJP leaders had vowed to expand their agitation till the CEC resigns, asserting that “protest at designated protest spot is not disturbing peace”.
According to the CJP, around 11 of its members, including Ranka, Das and Ajinkya Shinde, were detained on Tuesday.
A senior police officer, requesting anonymity, said Das, Ranka and some other protesters were taken to Jaffarpur Kalan Police Station in Dwarka district after being detained.
Security has also been stepped up in and around the police station after some CJP workers gathered there, the officer said.
In a post on X, Dipke said: “Cockroaches with the Tiranga sneaked into Jantar Mantar early this morning before they were picked up by Delhi Police.”
He also shared a video showing CJP members running towards the heavily barricaded protest site, scaling a gate and raising slogans while holding a tricolour, before being held by police personnel. They shouted slogans like “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and demanded CEC Kumar’s resignation.
“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 Dipke.
Later, in a post, he said the CJP leaders remained in detention and claimed their lawyers were not being allowed to meet them.
“How can police stop lawyers from meeting them? This is kidnapping because the police are certainly not following the rule of law,” he alleged.
“Jantar Mantar has been breached. The resignation of Gyanesh Kumar will happen at Jantar Mantar. Do what you can,” Ranka said.
CJP said the denotification announcement 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.
“You cannot ask citizens to approach the authorities for permission to protest and then change the rules while they are seeking that permission,” Ranka said.
Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar issued the standing order on October 11, naming Ramlila Maidan, Burari Ground and CBD Ground as the new designated sites for protests and demonstrations.
Das questioned the Home Ministry’s restrictions on access to the protest site, saying, “Who is the Home Ministry to take away our Jantar Mantar? This is the designated protest site, and we will get the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar from Jantar Mantar.”
Das also flashed a copy of the Constitution and said, “Constitution is with us.”
The CJP members raised slogans of “Bharat Mata ki Jai”, “Inquilab Zindabad” and “Jai Bhim”.
They also recited the revolutionary poem “Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna” and raised slogans against the authorities.
CJP also said removing the site from the list of designated protest venues risks weakening the visibility of public dissent by moving demonstrations away from the heart of the capital.
Mehr Pasricha, CJP Policy Lead and National Spokesperson, questioned the move to designate new protest sites kilometres away from the political centre of New Delhi.
“Our demand is only for Jantar Mantar. It has historic significance. This is where we got the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan…,” she said.
“By this logic, we should protest at home. What are you doing? You are moving the protest away from Parliament, from the vicinity of politicians to a faraway place,” she said.
The CJP also questioned the scale of police restrictions and detentions surrounding the recent demonstrations.
“Articles 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(b) of the Constitution protect freedom of expression and the right to assemble peacefully and without arms, subject to constitutionally permitted restrictions,” it said.
The detentions come amid heightened security in New Delhi following protest calls given by different organisations against CEC Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
(PTI News)
