CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke on Monday accused Delhi Police of subjecting him and his family to mental torture during his detention and launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the decision to remove Jantar Mantar from the list of designated protest sites in the national capital. He alleged that the government's actions were aimed at suppressing dissent and declared that the protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar would continue.
Speaking to reporters at his native Santuk Pimpri village in Maharashtra's Hingoli district, Dipke claimed that police had withheld information about his whereabouts from his family and lawyers after taking him into custody from an aircraft at Delhi airport on October 10. He also accused the authorities of deliberately causing distress to his family, which was grieving the death of his grandmother.
"They wanted to stress me out and give tension to my parents, who were already grieving my grandmother's death. This was mental torture that my family and I faced due to Delhi Police," he alleged.
Dipke returned to his village late Sunday night following his grandmother's death and subsequently visited the site where her last rites had been performed.
๐๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐น๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐๐
Dipke's remarks came shortly after Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar issued a standing order denotifying Jantar Mantar as a designated location for demonstrations. The order, dated October 11, identified Ramlila Maidan, Burari Ground and CBD Ground in east Delhi as the new designated venues for protests.
Reacting to the decision, Dipke said the government could remove Jantar Mantar's official status as a protest venue but could not prevent people from expressing dissent.
"They have removed Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site. Yes, it's no longer a protest site as anyway it was turned into a war zone by the coward dictator. Ab poora desh Jantar Mantar banega! (Now the entire country will turn into Jantar Mantar!)," he wrote on X.
He accused the BJP-led Central government of attempting to restrict democratic expression and questioned the motivation behind the decision.
"Today, Modi denotified Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site. Tomorrow, he will denotify democracy itself. The dictator's problem was never the protest site. It was the very idea of people protesting," Dipke alleged.
The decision to withdraw Jantar Mantar's status as a designated protest venue comes amid demonstrations demanding Kumar's resignation over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
๐๐ถ๐ฝ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐พ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ผ
The CJP founder also challenged Delhi Police's account of his treatment during detention. Police had released a video to support their claim that officers had sensitively informed him about his grandmother's death and offered assistance to facilitate his travel home.
Dipke, however, alleged that the footage had been selectively edited to present the police in a favourable light while omitting portions showing his distress and requests to contact relatives and legal representatives.
"If they told me about the death of my grandmother then why did they come with arrest papers to me at 3:30 am and asked me to sign?" he asked.
He claimed that officers had suggested he speak to his parents, but he declined because of their health concerns and requested permission to contact his cousin, who was with his grandmother.
According to Dipke, police refused to allow him to retrieve the cousin's telephone number from his mobile phone, even when he offered to access the device while officers continued holding it.
"I was asking for it for just two minutes. I told them that they can keep holding the phone in their hands and just let me open the phone to retrieve the number. They weren't willing to do that," he said.
He maintained that he did not remember the number because most people now store contact details on their phones rather than memorising them.
๐๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ด๐ฒ๐ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐
Dipke alleged that police had deliberately approached him at 3.30 am with documents and asked him to inform his family that he had been arrested and would remain in jail for a prolonged period.
He claimed that neither his family nor his lawyers had been told where he was being held.
"Police didn't even tell my lawyers where I was being held. And at 3:30 am, deliberately to cause further mental distress to my family, they asked me to inform them that I have been arrested and will be in jail for a long time," he alleged.
Demanding the release of the complete recording, Dipke said the footage circulated by Delhi Police excluded portions in which he broke down after learning of his grandmother's death.
"The video they released was edited and trimmed. They should show the full video, especially the part where I asked for my phone to speak to my brother and my lawyers, and also where I was crying after they broke the news to me," he said.
He alleged that the recording abruptly shifted to an officer handing him water bottles while omitting the emotional exchange preceding it.
Delhi Police have maintained that the news of his grandmother's death was conveyed sensitively and that travel assistance was offered. Dipke disputes that account.
๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ณ๐๐๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ป ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐
Dipke also rejected suggestions that he had signed an undertaking concerning the maintenance of public peace. He asserted that he would not sign any document without consulting his lawyer.
The activist reiterated that the CJP would continue its agitation over alleged electoral roll irregularities and questioned why the Central government was defending the Chief Election Commissioner despite demands for his resignation.
"Youth are being assaulted, journalists are being assaulted, even MPs are being assaulted by Delhi Police. What makes Gyanesh Kumar so indispensable to Modi that he is willing to wage war against everyone just to protect him?" Dipke wrote on X.
He further accused the government of using police action to intimidate protesters and suppress criticism. These allegations have not been independently established.
Referring to the deployment of women police personnel during the crackdown on demonstrations in Delhi, Dipke alleged that their presence was part of a deliberate strategy to implicate protesters if confrontations occurred. He maintained that the demonstrators respected women and knew how to treat them with dignity.
๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ
The CJP has been demanding Kumar's resignation over alleged irregularities in the SIR of electoral rolls, an issue that has also prompted protests and legal challenges by Opposition parties.
Dipke's latest statements indicate that the organisation intends to continue its campaign despite police restrictions and the removal of Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site.
The dispute has intensified amid competing accounts of the detention of protesters and the legal basis for restrictions imposed on demonstrations in the national capital.
Following his interaction with reporters, Dipke visited the place in Santuk Pimpri where his grandmother's final rites had been conducted.