Delhi Police detained more than 500 protesters across the city on October 10 ahead of a planned demonstration at Jantar Mantar against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, according to The Hindu. Among those detained were Cockroach Janta Party leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, who had arrived in Delhi to attend the protest.
CJP legal affairs head Ratna Singh also told The Hindu that she was detained outside her residence in Jangpura, New Delhi, as police action intensified ahead of the demonstration. She said police officials arrived at about 8.45 a.m. and sought to enter her residence, but were stopped by her flatmate, who is also a lawyer, on the ground that officers could not enter or search the premises without a warrant.
Singh said she was later sitting in a friend’s car outside the residence with two lawyers when Delhi Police personnel surrounded the vehicle and blocked it. She also said Central Reserve Police Force personnel were present at the location. According to her account, police personnel told her that they were acting on “verbal orders from above” requiring her detention at her residence.
Singh said the CJP planned to move an application before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate through advocate Adit Pujari, challenging what she described as an illegal detention. She said the group consisted of only three people and therefore did not constitute an unlawful assembly, according to the report.
The CJP said the detentions were a pre-planned interception intended to prevent its leadership from reaching the protest site. In a statement, the party demanded the immediate release of Dipke, Das and Ranka and described the planned demonstration as peaceful.
The protest was called by the CJP along with several Left organisations. Organisers were seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the withdrawal of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The planned programme included a gathering of lawyers outside the Supreme Court before the demonstration at Jantar Mantar.
The detentions placed restrictions on movement across several parts of the capital before the scheduled protest. The report did not establish the legal grounds cited by Delhi Police for the detentions, whether formal detention documents were issued, or how many people remained in custody. Those details are expected to be addressed through the proposed court application and subsequent police proceedings.
