Fourteen students and youth activists from Pune were released on Friday evening after the Madhya Pradesh High Court directed the state to produce them before it on October 13, following their detention at Itarsi while they were travelling to Delhi for a protest against the Election Commission of India.
The group had been removed from the Goa Express at Itarsi, according to the report, after travelling from Maharashtra. Their relatives, Shravani Bua and Preeti Londhe, filed a habeas corpus petition before the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Friday. A bench comprising Chief Justice A P Kogje and Justice Vivek Jain directed the state to produce the detainees before the court on October 13, while allowing them to be produced earlier after informing the petitioners and ensuring their safe return to their families.
Following their release, Akash Nawale, a member of the National Students’ and Youth Federation, said the group would return to Pune rather than continue to Delhi. “We are trying to make arrangements to return to Pune because the govt has stopped all ways to travel to Delhi. We will return to Pune and protest there,” he said. Nawale and fellow activist Niharika Bhosale also ended their hunger strike, according to the report.
The activists were travelling to participate in a protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, withdrawal of the Special Intensive Revision exercise and electoral reforms. The detention therefore involved movement across state borders, police action during rail travel and the group’s stated intention to attend a political demonstration in the national capital.
The detainees alleged that they were forcibly removed from the train and held in a private resort’s banquet hall rather than a police facility. Shravani Bua, a student and All India Students’ Federation member, alleged that members of the group were “brutally dragged out” and denied medical treatment despite suffering injuries. Bhosale alleged that plainclothes personnel followed the activists during their journey and photographed them without consent. She also said some detainees were dragged from a bus and had their hands twisted while being taken into custody.
According to the students, a Maharashtra police team first stopped them at Bhusawal station before Madhya Pradesh police detained them at Itarsi. The allegations had not been independently established in the supplied report. Narmadapuram superintendent of police Saikrishna Thota declined to comment, while messages sent to him remained unanswered at the time of publication.
The incident comes amid claims by student and youth leaders in Maharashtra that police contacted people about plans to attend the Delhi protest. Pune-based activist Mayur Malkhede alleged that Ballarpur police served him a notice under Section 168 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, seeking details about his proposed participation and advising him against travelling to Delhi.
The high court’s direction has shifted the immediate focus from the planned protest to the legality and circumstances of the detention. The state is required to produce the individuals before the court on October 13, unless they are produced earlier after the petitioners are informed and arrangements are made for their safe return to their families.
