Delhi Police on Tuesday detained volunteers from the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) after they protested at Jantar Mantar, which had to be pulled down by the Centre as an allowed protest ground a day ago.
Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, two leaders of CJP, led the demonstration. As the video made available by party founder Abhijeet Dipke shows, several party volunteers climbed an iron gate, past a police barricade to enter the zone, carrying party flags, shouting slogans.
The clips depicted a group of protesters entering the premises while police tried to prevent them from entering. It was, Dipke said in the post, “the demonthistrators [alt. demonstrators] shouted ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ‘Inquilab Zindabad,’ and were arrested and driven away by police.”
In response to this incident, the founder of CJP called into question the Centre’s decision, saying, “You cannot denotify the resistance.”
The central Delhi Jantar Mantar which is having long been a protest spot for sit-ins and demonstrations was the venue for this. The latest ruling moon means that it won’t be utilized for this purpose anymore.
The police have suggested three possible venues for the protesters in the national capital they could play at: Ramlila Ground, Burari Ground and CBD Ground in east Delhi. The locations of the venues were finalised after a committee was set up under Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
The developments are coming at a time when protests are ongoing by the opposition INDIA and CJP in central Delhi demanding accountability for electoral irregularities in the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
Since October 10, Delhi Police has deployed heavy security at Jantar Mantar, which has prevented protesters from entering the area. Earlier this day, the CJP had signaled to people about a protest at the location.
Das, Ranka apparently joined them on October 10 when they arrived by flight in Delhi, where they were also detained, the report states. More detentions took place in the national capital over the weekend, while events of demonstrations and police actions were carried out in certain parts of the capital city.
The incident comes in the backdrop of the ongoing controversy over access to special protest hotspot in Delhi after the Centre’s decision.