Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das, and Ashutosh Ranka of the satirical political outfit Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) have been released by a local court following their preventive arrest earlier in the day, NDTV reported citing sources.
The three leaders were released on the condition that they will not commit any act considered a "breach of peace" for a period of one year, sources told NDTV. They were produced before the court of the executive magistrate in Delhi Cantonment on Sunday morning, following their detention aboard an aircraft immediately after landing in the national capital on Saturday.
The preventive action came amid escalating tensions on the second day of planned demonstrations against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) voter roll cleanup exercise.
According to NDTV, an unprecedented security ring was thrown around the national capital on Saturday to foil large gatherings at central Delhi's Jantar Mantar, forcing agitators to disperse into smaller clusters across the city. Over 3,000 protesters, including several political figures, were detained throughout the day before being released late Saturday night. Among those released was YouTuber and activist Dhruv Rathee.
Focus has now shifted to the Supreme Court, which is slated to hold a special sitting to hear a contempt petition challenging the blanket shutdown of Delhi Metro stations and services on Saturday. While metro operations resumed on Sunday morning, NDTV reported heavy security deployments across entry and exit gates, with buses stationed nearby to handle potential detentions.
The move comes after a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana had explicitly directed on Friday that there should be no total shutdown of metro services ahead of Saturday's protests.
Accusing the administration of imposing an "undeclared emergency" to crush peaceful assembly, the CJP asserted that street demonstrations will continue until accountability is fixed over the alleged deletion and manipulation of 13 crore voter records. The group, founded by Dipke-a Boston University alumnus who previously spearheaded protests around NEET question paper leaks-enjoys broad support from major Opposition parties.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sharply countered the outfit, terming the CJP an Opposition front attempting to destabilize the country. BJP President Nitin Nabin alleged that Opposition factions are operating under the influence of "foreign forces" to harm India's interests.
Commenting on the unrest, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh stated that while "every individual has the right to express dissent in a democracy," spreading anarchy is "not anyone's right." He added that while Gen-Z youth might be "momentarily misled," they "can never be diverted from the goal of nation-building."
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