Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke before the party’s planned ‘Lahra Do Tiranga’ protest at Central Park in Connaught Place on Friday, October 16, according to a report by Live Hindustan. Another person associated with the demonstration, Neha Bora, was also detained from Mandi House.
The action came after more than 20 Delhi Police personnel visited the accommodation in Jhandewalan where Dipke was staying and served him a notice. The notice directed him to avoid any action that could adversely affect the rights of citizens, traders, passengers, patients and other people, the report said.
The proposed demonstration was to be held at Central Park, a prominent public space in Connaught Place, a commercial district with offices, shops, restaurants and high pedestrian and vehicle movement. The report said the police action was linked to restrictions in the area and the absence of permission from the New Delhi Municipal Council for the proposed tricolour march.
The report cited the imposition of Section 163 in Connaught Place as one of the reasons mentioned in the news shared by Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal. It also said that NDMC had not granted permission for the tricolour march. The supplied report does not include a separate statement from Delhi Police or NDMC explaining the restrictions.
Kejriwal criticised the detention in posts on X. Sharing a report about Dipke being taken into custody, he called the action “dictatorship” and questioned whether displaying the national flag was a crime. He also wrote that Dipke’s detention showed how afraid Prime Minister Narendra Modi was of the organisers, according to the report.
In another post, Kejriwal said that people should be able to display the tricolour in India rather than elsewhere, and added that those who had a problem with the Indian flag should go to Pakistan. The comments were political reactions to the police action and were not presented in the supplied report as an official explanation for the detention.
The report also noted that Kejriwal referred to Dipke as arrested in his first post, while the police action described in the report was detention. That distinction is significant because the supplied material does not state that Dipke had formally been arrested or that criminal charges had been filed against him.
The incident places the management of public demonstrations in Connaught Place alongside the competing claims of public access, commercial activity and the right to assemble. The police notice specifically referred to possible effects on citizens, traders, passengers and patients. The next official steps, including whether Dipke and Bora would be released, whether the demonstration would proceed and whether police or NDMC would issue further clarification, were not stated in the supplied report.
