Hundreds of demonstrators who came to Delhi for a protest call by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar took refuge at Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, while police detained more than 100 people outside the premises on Saturday afternoon.
The gurdwara is around 1 km from the Election Commission of India office at Ashoka Road. The detentions came as security restrictions were imposed across the Capital in response to the protest call. Demonstrators had travelled from Delhi and other states and began gathering near the gurdwara after arriving in the city.
A staff member of the gurdwara management told The Indian Express that police had urged the management to send the protesters out, but the request was refused. The staff member said the demonstrators had been peacefully sitting, sleeping and eating inside the gurdwara and that the management considered anyone entering the premises a visitor.
“Police are not allowed inside. Police can come only when there is a serious criminal incident, but these are students who have come to protest, which is their right. They cannot force them out… they are not criminals,” the staff member said.
According to the staff member, protesters continued to enter and leave the gurdwara during the day. Some demonstrators stepped outside the main gate in groups and were detained. Yash Sen, who travelled from Agra, said he had been at the gurdwara since the previous night and that people leaving the premises were being detained.
Kamaljeet Singh, a devotee who had travelled from Madhya Pradesh with his wife, said around 1,000-2,000 student protesters had arrived at Bangla Sahib since the previous night. He said police came around 8 am to detain demonstrators, but gurdwara management did not allow them to enter the premises. Singh also alleged that some police personnel entered the area near the main gate and pulled out students before being asked to leave by the management.
Singh estimated that 150-200 students were detained outside the gurdwara. The Indian Express report did not include a police statement giving the total number of detentions or detailing the legal grounds for the action.
One protester, Anuradha Mewara, said she had travelled from Rajasthan to participate in the demonstration and demand the Election Commissioner’s resignation. She said she was detained outside the gurdwara, taken around in a bus and dropped near the Red Fort.
The detentions affected demonstrators who had travelled to Delhi from several states. Yohan Makwana, who came from Gujarat, said protesters inside the gurdwara were waiting for an update from CJP leader Ajinkya Shinde. Afzal, a resident of Seelampur, said he planned to return the following day and was waiting for further instructions.
The episode placed a religious institution near a major central-government district at the centre of a public-order response. The gurdwara management’s refusal to remove the protesters and its reported objection to police entry shaped how demonstrators were able to remain inside the premises, while those who moved outside became subject to detention. The report did not specify the next legal or administrative step for those detained.
