Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) chief spokesperson Saurav Das and national spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka on Tuesday morning after they climbed the locked gates of Jantar Mantar to enter the protest site, a day after authorities withdrew its designated protest venue status.
A video shared by Ranka on X showed him, Das and the party’s national organisation in-charge, Ajinkya Shinde, climbing over the gates and entering the premises. Police personnel stationed at the site subsequently intervened and detained them. The group had arrived with at least 10 other people to protest against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. Some members entered the premises carrying the national flag. A senior police officer said all of them had been detained.
In the video, the protesters could be heard raising slogans of “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and demanding Kumar’s resignation.
Following the detention, Das said in a post on X that they had been taken to Jaffarpur Police Station.
In a video posted on Instagram, Das said, “We have breached Jantar Mantar.” Ranka, meanwhile, said Kumar’s resignation would take place from Jantar Mantar “no matter what”.
Das later claimed that the group had reclaimed the protest site within 24 hours of its denotification. “This is a message to the government: hands off people’s Jantar Mantar! Gyanu’s time is over,” he wrote.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke also reacted to the detentions, writing on X, “Cockroaches with the Tiranga sneaked into Jantar Mantar early this morning before they were picked up by Delhi Police.”
“You cannot denotify the resistance,” Dipke said in another post, referring to the detention of Das, Ranka and Shinde.
The incident came a day after Delhi Police withdrew Jantar Mantar’s status as a designated protest venue and announced three alternative locations for demonstrations across the capital. A circular issued on Monday named Ramlila Ground, Burari Ground and CBD Ground in Shahdara as the new designated sites. According to the circular, the Ministry of Home Affairs had constituted a committee to examine alternative venues for citizens to organise protests and demonstrations.
The decision brings a change to the arrangements at Jantar Mantar, which has hosted several high-profile demonstrations over the years.
Since June this year, the site has been the centre of youth-led protests organised by CJP, founded by Dipke. The demonstrations, which focused on alleged examination irregularities, culminated in the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, according to the account of the protests.
Reacting to the removal of Jantar Mantar from the list of designated protest venues, Dipke said the move would not stop demonstrations.
“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! [The entire country will become Jantar Mantar now],” he wrote on X.
