Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) Chief Spokesperson Saurav Das and National Spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka have been sent to five days of judicial custody, prompting a sharp reaction from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Atishi, who described the development as “shocking” and compared the situation with the Emergency.
Das and Ranka were brought out of Mandir Marg Police Station before being sent to judicial custody. Reacting to the development, Atishi criticised the action against the two CJP leaders in a post on X.
“Modi ji: this is even worse than the Emergency ever was!” she wrote.
Police action amid protest row
The latest development comes amid a continuing dispute over the CJP's attempts to stage protests in the national capital. The party has been at the forefront of demonstrations against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, raising allegations concerning the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The CJP has demanded accountability over the revision exercise, alleging irregularities in the electoral process. The Election Commission and the Bharatiya Janata Party have rejected allegations of politically motivated voter deletions.
CJP members detained in Delhi
On October 13, Das, Ranka and the party's national organisation in-charge, Ajinkya Shinde, were detained after members of the group entered Jantar Mantar, a protest venue that had recently been removed from the list of authorised protest sites. The group allegedly entered the premises by climbing its locked gates, with some members carrying the national flag.
The detentions came days after CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, Das and Ranka were detained ahead of a planned protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on October 10. They were subsequently released following proceedings before an Executive Magistrate, subject to a condition that they maintain peace for one year.
Atishi invokes Emergency
Atishi's reaction has added to the political criticism surrounding the police action against CJP members. By invoking the Emergency, she sought to underline what she described as the seriousness of the latest development.
The five-day judicial custody of Das and Ranka marks another escalation in the dispute over the party's protest activities in Delhi, with the CJP continuing to challenge restrictions on demonstrations and the authorities taking action over alleged violations of protest-site rules.