A dispute over access to Delhi’s Jantar Mantar protest site intensified on Wednesday after Kerala Leader of Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan alleged that the Centre had taken away the public space and urged citizens to reclaim it. His statement followed the detention and court proceedings against three protesters who were allegedly attempting to reach the site during a demonstration against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
In a post on X, Vijayan said the Narendra Modi-led government had restricted the right to protest by limiting demonstrations at a designated location and was now taking away even that space. He called on people to unite to reclaim Jantar Mantar and defend the right to dissent.
Vijayan also demanded the resignation and prosecution of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. His comments were made in the context of an ongoing protest by members of the Cockroach Janta Party, identified in the report as Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka and Ajinkya Shinde.
According to the report, Das and Ranka were remanded by a Delhi court on Wednesday to five days in judicial custody. They were accused of trespassing on private property while attempting to reach Jantar Mantar, described in the report as a denotified protest site. The proceedings followed their detention during the protest.
Shinde was dealt with separately. He was bound down to maintain peace and good behaviour for six months and released on a personal bond and a surety of Rs 5,000. Vijayan said the three leaders had allegedly been detained for waving the national flag during their protest against the Chief Election Commissioner.
The episode highlights the administrative significance of Jantar Mantar, a space historically associated with demonstrations in the national capital. Access to designated protest locations involves the management of public land, police permissions and restrictions on movement around surrounding properties. In this case, the report does not provide details of the order or notification under which the site was denotified, nor does it include a response from the Delhi administration, police or the Centre to Vijayan’s allegations.
Vijayan said the national flag belonged to the people and not to those in power. He linked the arrests and the status of Jantar Mantar to a wider concern over the ability of citizens to protest in a democracy. The report did not specify the protesters’ next court hearing or whether authorities had announced any change to the site’s status.
For now, the immediate developments are the five-day judicial custody of Das and Ranka, Shinde’s release subject to the conditions imposed by the court, and Vijayan’s demand for action against the Chief Election Commissioner. Further proceedings and any official clarification on access to Jantar Mantar will determine the next stage of the dispute.
