NEW DELHI: All India Students' Association (AISA) president Neha Bora was released early on Saturday morning after being detained by Delhi Police ahead of the 'Lehra Do Tiranga' protest march, while Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke remains in custody and will be produced before the Special Executive Magistrate (SEM) court on Saturday, police said.
Ms. Bora was detained from the protest march at Mandi House on Friday evening and released after completing formal procedures under Section 65 of the Delhi Police Act. Mr. Dipke, on the other hand, was detained minutes before the scheduled march as he stepped out of the residence where he was staying in Jhandewalan, Karol Bagh, on his way to the gathering at Central Park in Connaught Place.
Delhi Police said action had been initiated against him under Sections 126 and 170 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which provide for security for keeping the peace and preventive arrest, and that he would be produced before the SEM court.
The two detentions came against the backdrop of a planned anti-CEC protest at Central Park in Connaught Place, organised under the banner of the 'Lehra Do Tiranga' (wave the tricolour) march. The protest is part of a continuing agitation by the CJP and several student and activist groups demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Several groups of protesters and activists holding national flags converged near Central Park on Friday evening, and the crowd swelled through the evening as more protesters, activists, and student groups joined the march. Delhi Police tightened security around Connaught Place, cordoning off Central Park and deploying Rapid Action Force personnel inside and additional forces across the area.
According to reports, around 150 people were detained to maintain law and order and ensure smooth traffic movement in the area.
Ms. Bora's detention and subsequent release drew sharp reactions from student and political circles. AISA alleged that after her detention she was moved between multiple locations across Delhi for nearly five hours before being taken to the R.K. Puram police station, and that lawyers who reached the station around midnight were not allowed to meet her. The organisation also claimed she was denied medicines despite being unwell.
Former AISA leader N. Sai Balaji, who is currently associated with the CPI(ML), said Ms. Bora's release followed 12 hours of protests and outrage across the country. He asserted that the agitation would continue, demanding the resignation of Mr. Kumar and the rollback of the SIR process, adding that the government could not escape accountability for what he described as the destruction of the Election Commission's autonomy.
Mr. Dipke's detention is significant because it is the latest in a string of preventive actions against the CJP leader over the past week. Along with CJP members Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, Mr. Dipke had earlier been taken into custody from their seats aboard an aircraft after it landed from Mumbai ahead of the CJP's October 10 protest at Jantar Mantar.
The three were subsequently released after furnishing a peace bond, with Mr. Dipke reportedly furnishing a bond of Rs 50,000 and undertaking to maintain public peace and good behaviour for one year.
Mr. Das and Mr. Ranka were arrested again earlier this week on charges including breach of bond, trespass, and obstructing public servants, after they reached Jantar Mantar and waved the national flag with 12 other supporters. They are currently lodged in a high-security prison in Tihar Jail. Another CJP member, Ajinkya Shinde, was bound down under a peace bond.
Police sources said Mr. Dipke had been served two notices directing him not to visit Central Park in Connaught Place but had allegedly failed to comply, and that his detention was linked to concerns over a possible breach of peace. Police are expected to inform the magistrate that Mr. Dipke violated the conditions of the peace bond he had furnished after the earlier preventive arrest.
The detentions have drawn condemnation from political leaders. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal condemned Mr. Dipke's detention, reflecting how the confrontation between the CJP and Delhi Police over the anti-CEC protests has spilled into national politics.
The developments have also attracted international attention. US lawmakers wrote to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio over the Delhi detentions, a move that India rejected as interference in its internal affairs. The Ministry of External Affairs has consistently maintained that matters related to Indian citizens and Indian institutions are internal to the country.
Meanwhile, the agitation shows no signs of abating. Various farmers' organisations, under the banner of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), have announced that they will march to Delhi on October 23, demanding the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar over the SIR of electoral rolls. The farmers' march is expected to add a fresh dimension to the protests that have been gathering around the Election Commission's functioning.
The confrontation centres on the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, a process that the CJP and allied groups claim threatens the integrity of the voter list and the autonomy of the Election Commission of India.
Mr. Dipke, a filmmaker-activist who founded the Cockroach Janta Party as a satirical political outfit, has been at the forefront of the campaign demanding the CEC's resignation, turning the 'Lehra Do Tiranga' marches into a recurring site of tension between protesters and the police in the national capital.
The Supreme Court had earlier declined to grant urgent hearing to pleas concerning the closure of Central Park, leaving the question of access to the protest venue unresolved. With the police maintaining that the Central Park area remains restricted, and protest organisers insisting on their right to assemble, the standoff in central Delhi is likely to continue through the weekend as the SEM court takes up Mr. Dipke's case.
What happens next will depend on the magistrate's orders. If Mr. Dipke is released, the CJP is expected to announce its next course of action in the campaign against the SIR and the CEC. If he is remanded, the confrontation could intensify, with opposition leaders and student organisations already mobilised over the issue. For now, Delhi Police has said it will continue to maintain a heavy security presence around Connaught Place to prevent any breach of peace.
(Reporting based on The Hindu and Times Now.)