More than 5,000 protesters were detained across Delhi on Saturday as police prevented demonstrations demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, imposing restrictions across the New Delhi district and deploying about 14,000 personnel across the capital.
A senior Delhi Police officer said around 1,500 of those detained were picked up in the New Delhi area. They were taken to temporary detention facilities at different locations and released before sunset, the officer said. Women protesters and senior citizens were also released from the detention centres.
The police action followed the denial of permission to the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) for a planned demonstration at Jantar Mantar. Prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita were imposed across the New Delhi district, restricting unauthorised public assemblies, demonstrations and protests.
The deployment included around 4,000 women police personnel. The officer said police arrangements would continue amid expectations of further protest calls by the CJP, the All India Youth Federation, the All India Students’ Federation and the Students’ Federation of India. Legal process would be followed in the case of CJP leaders, the officer added.
CJP founders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained at Delhi airport after arriving from Mumbai on Air India flight AI 2428. The flight departed Mumbai at 8 a.m. and reached Delhi at 10.20 a.m. According to the report, Delhi Police personnel accompanied by Central Industrial Security Force officials entered the aircraft after landing and took the activists into custody. The group was later escorted off the aircraft and taken away in a bus on the airport tarmac.
The incident has prompted Air India to seek clarity from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security on the procedures that allow police personnel to board an aircraft and on the apparent absence of prior coordination. Under the Aircraft (Security) Rules, 2023, airlines control access to aircraft. The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Air India had not responded to queries at the time of publication.
YouTuber Dhruv Rathee was also detained at his residence in Sector 56, Gurugram, according to police sources cited in the report. A Delhi Police team accompanied by Gurugram Police took him to an undisclosed location. Rathee had reportedly travelled to Delhi to participate in the Jantar Mantar demonstration and had posted a video questioning the security arrangements and transport restrictions introduced ahead of the protest.
At around 1 p.m., police detained All India Students’ Association national president Neha Bora after she was denied permission to march towards Jantar Mantar. She subsequently appealed on social media for people to gather near Dilli Haat at INA. Protesters surrounded a police bus carrying her and demanded her release before she and other protesters were taken to a temporary detention facility in south Delhi.
Bora later said her phone had been taken away and returned, and that women detained during the protest had been released from Maidan Garhi police station. Police restrictions and the large deployment affected access to central Delhi as authorities prepared for further mobilisation. The Delhi Police said its deployment would continue in anticipation of another protest call.
