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Three leaders of the satirical political outfit Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) were released on Sunday morning after being detained by Delhi Police, according to media reports.
The released leaders are Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka. The group initially gained attention through online campaigning.
They were detained from inside an aircraft after it landed in Delhi on Saturday, October 10. An executive magistrate’s court at Delhi Cantonment ordered their release on Sunday morning.
Police detained more than 3,000 people, including politicians and actors, across India on Saturday. Most were released later that night. Authorities imposed unprecedented security measures across the capital to prevent disorder around Jantar Mantar, the designated protest site. As a result, demonstrators split into smaller groups and staged protests at different locations.
YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, a vocal critic of India’s NDA government, was also among those detained. He was released late Saturday night.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is expected to hold a special hearing on Sunday on a contempt petition over the decision to completely suspend services at several Delhi Metro stations and halt train operations on Saturday.
Metro services were running normally on Sunday morning, but large numbers of security personnel remained deployed at station entrances and exits. Buses were also stationed nearby to transport detainees if necessary.
On Friday, a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant had directed authorities not to suspend metro services completely ahead of Saturday’s protest. Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana were also on the bench.
CJP leaders have vowed to continue their street protests until accountability is ensured over allegations that 130 million voters were removed from electoral rolls and that the lists were manipulated.
They alleged that an “undeclared state of emergency” had been imposed in Delhi to prevent peaceful public gatherings.
Source : NDTV