At least 14 students travelling from Pune to Delhi for a protest were detained by the Madhya Pradesh Government Railway Police at Itarsi after being removed from the Goa Express, prompting the Madhya Pradesh High Court to seek their production and direct arrangements for their safe return to their families.
The students were reportedly members of the All India Students Federation, the New Students and Youth Federation and the Resist, Reclaim, Rebuild campaign. They were travelling to attend a protest called by the Cockroach Janta Party at Jantar Mantar in Delhi against alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The protest was scheduled for Saturday.
According to AISF members, a group of about 25 to 30 students boarded the Goa Express at Pune Railway Station at around 4.30 am on Friday. Advocate Namokar More, who was travelling in another coach, told The Indian Express that two women personnel in civilian clothes entered the students’ coach after one of them posted on Instagram that the group was travelling to Delhi.
More said the personnel initially sat near the students and identified where they were seated and that they were travelling to the protest. He alleged that the students were first asked to deboard at Bhusawal but resisted what they described as an illegal arrest. The students were subsequently detained at Itarsi.
After they were removed from the train, the students were taken to a premises identified as The Park Club and Resort. AISF members alleged that they were held there without being given a clear explanation. Azharuddin Shaikh, a Mumbai-based AISF member, said students asking on whose orders and on what grounds their colleagues were being detained were told that the instructions had come from the “Home Ministry”.
A separate group from the same contingent was travelling in another coach and did not post videos online. Shaikh said that group went unnoticed and reached Delhi. He also alleged that police were checking hotels near Jantar Mantar to identify protesters staying in the area. These claims were attributed to AISF members in the report and were not independently established in the supplied material.
A legal team representing the students approached the Madhya Pradesh High Court and filed a habeas corpus petition through the families of those allegedly detained. The petition was filed amid concerns that the students could be moved from the resort to another location.
On Friday, the High Court issued notices to the state government and police authorities and directed them to produce the students before it on or before October 13. The court also instructed the authorities to make arrangements for the students’ safe return to their families.
Several videos circulating on social media purportedly show police personnel forcibly removing students from the train. The CJP condemned detentions linked to protests across the country in a post on X, while the AISF said the detentions would not silence its members. The court’s direction to produce the students by October 13 is the next formal milestone in the case.
