Delhi Police detained more than 5,000 protesters across the national capital on October 10 as authorities moved to prevent demonstrations demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The action included detentions at temporary facilities, restrictions around central Delhi and the custody of political activists and student leaders.
A senior police officer said permission had been denied 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, barring unauthorised public assemblies, demonstrations and protests.
According to the officer, around 5,000 people were detained across Delhi, including approximately 1,500 in the New Delhi area. They were taken to temporary detention facilities established at different locations and released before sunset. Women protesters and senior citizens were released from the detention centres, while the police said due legal process would be followed in the case of CJP leaders.
The police deployed around 14,000 personnel, including 4,000 women officers, across the city. The deployment was expected to continue amid the possibility of further protest calls by the CJP, All India Youth Federation, All India Students’ Federation and Students’ Federation of India. The scale of the deployment and the restrictions affected access to central Delhi, where Jantar Mantar is a designated site for protests.
CJP founder members Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained at Delhi airport after arriving on an Air India flight from Mumbai. The Hindu reported that Delhi Police personnel, accompanied by Central Industrial Security Force officials, entered the aircraft after it landed and escorted the activists away in a bus stationed on the tarmac. The activists raised slogans and recorded a live video from inside the aircraft, describing the action as “dictatorship”.
The incident has also raised questions about coordination between police, airport security agencies and airlines. Air India wrote to the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security seeking clarity on the protocols followed after the three CJP members were detained aboard flight AI 2428. The flight departed Mumbai at 8 a.m. and arrived in Delhi at 10.20 a.m.; its parking bay was changed on CISF instructions before landing.
Air India sought clarification on the guidelines allowing police personnel to board an aircraft and on the apparent lack 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.
The police also detained All India Students’ Association national president Neha Bora after she was denied permission to march towards Jantar Mantar. She later urged people on social media to gather at Dilli Haat near INA. Protesters surrounded the police bus carrying her and demanded her release before she and others were taken to a temporary detention facility in south Delhi. Ms. Bora later said her phone had been taken and returned, and that women detained at Maidan Garhi police station had been released.
