IYC marches to Jantar Mantar
Two Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders, Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, were sent to five days of judicial custody on Wednesday, October 14, a day after they allegedly crossed police barricades into Jantar Mantar with the national flag. A third leader, Ajinkya Shinde, was released on a personal bond. Delhi Police say the three were arrested under preventive provisions over repeated attempts to disturb public peace, and that the Special Executive Magistrate (SEM) feared they would break the law again if released.
04:10 pm: Delhi Police have directed journalists and media personnel to keep a ‘safe distance’ from both protesters and security forces while covering events in the capital
04:06 pm: Former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday slammed the BJP-led Centre over the arrest of Cockroach Janata Party leaders, assuring the country’s youth that “your Didi is with you today and forever”.
04:04 pm: Leading traders’ bodies have written to PM Modi, CJI Surya Kant and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, expressing serious concern over public movement restrictions due to recent protests against the CEC.
The organisations sought stronger legal and administrative measures to protect markets, commercial establishments, industrial areas and major transport routes from blockades and forced shutdowns.
03:55 pm: Several IYC members were detained during their march to Jantar Mantar in front of Parliament Street Police Station.
03:43 pm: Videos from IYC’s protest march show Delhi Police and Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel recording the protesters from detention buses.
03:30 pm: Delhi Police detained CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP V Sivadasan at Windsor Place while he was trying to reach Jantar Mantar.
03:00 pm: Indian Youth Congress began its march to Jantar Mantar, starting from Patel Chowk metro station, calling for the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
02:42 pm: CJP national convener Abhijeet Dipke has arrived in Delhi as co-conveners Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were sent to five-day judicial custody in Tihar Jail.
02:27 pm: Cockroach Janta Party leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka have been placed in separate cells within Tihar Jail, according to IANS, citing sources. “Saurav Das has been placed in Jail No.2. Ashutosh Ranka has been placed in Jail No.4,” the source said.
While Ajinkya Shinde was released on personal bond, Das and Ranka were sent to five-day judicial custody.
02:23 pm: The Supreme Court said it would hear on October 28 a plea seeking a direction to the Election Commission to place in public domain the list of electors issued notices during the SIR of electoral roll in Delhi along with specific reasons for each notice.
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02:17 pm: The Indian Youth Congress erected hoardings in central Delhi as it sought to step up its campaign demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in SIR of electoral rolls.
The hoardings installed outside the Congress headquarters at 24 Akbar Road, Indira Bhawan and the Indian Youth Congress’ (IYC) national office carry the slogan “Shiv ki Baraat” (Lord Shiva’s wedding procession).
02:13 pm: Delhi Police stopped the Students Federation of India and Democratic Youth Federation of India protest march from Firoz Shah Road to Jantar Mantar, as they demanded the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
01:59 pm: A section of diaspora groups in the UK organised an “Emergency Protest” outside the High Commission of India in London in solidarity with the protests in New Delhi.
Convened by the South Asia Solidarity Group, Cambridge South Asian Forum Against Hindutva, Indian Workers’ Association and SOAS Ambedkar Society, among other groups, the protest on Tuesday evening attracted a large student gathering, with participants expressing solidarity with the “Jantar Mantar 2.0 protests” and the struggle in India to defend the right to vote and the right to protest.
01:53 pm: Speaking at the press conference, Gandhi warned the Delhi Police “with love and from the heart” that he has asked all students to record videos and preserve evidence of any assault. “I am asking every student to make videos and send us the evidence as well. When this entire matter is over, we will use all the evidence and ensure that those who need to be punished are held accountable.”
01:48 pm: Rahul Gandhi claimed that another protester, Atira from Kerala, lost her hearing in one ear following the assault by Delhi Police. “She is deaf in one ear because she was struck on that ear. She can no longer hear. Last time I showed you a boy who was blinded. Now, she is deaf in one ear.”
01:34 pm: A protester addressing reporters at a press conference called by Rahul Gandhi alleged that Delhi Police assaulted multiple student activists after being detained. He said that two other minors not involved in the protest were also detained with him. The protester added that the two minors were Muslims and were repeatedly beaten despite begging to be let go. He demanded a Nuremberg trial against the officers responsible for the assault. The trials were a series of military tribunals held after World War II to prosecute key leaders of Nazi Germany.
01:25 pm: One of the protesters brought a flute to the press conference, saying his response to the “danda” is with a “pyaar wala danda”
“Nafrat ka jawab pyar se diya jayega,” he said and played ‘Vaishnava Jana To’ on the flute.
01:17 pm: Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi with injured student activists of NSUI. A woman NSUI member was severely assaulted by a woman Delhi officer inside a bus after she was detained, with the video of the assault going viral.
12:50 pm: A wider cross-section of the Harvard community said they were concerned by the negative discourse and campaign against India’s democratic institutions amid the ongoing anti-CEC protests.
Comprising lawyers, policymakers, civil servants, scientists, and academicians, the community said it was also troubling that reports of the use of Harvard University’s name to lend credibility to a political campaign without appropriate authorisation. It said particular language being used to describe India being under “siege” raises serious concerns about the intent to undermine trust in democratic institutions.
12:37 pm: “Ashutosh and Saurav sent to Tihar for five days, while the Hindu Kranti Dal activists who come to Connaught Place with knives, sticks and swords are released on bail in the same evening? What on earth is going on in this country? And this on a trespassing charge?” said Anish Gwande, spokesperson for the Nationalist Congress Party (SP).
Calling the arrest “unacceptable,” he said, “If the Supreme Court does not wake up, I don’t know when it will.” Gwande added that if the government thinks this arrest will silence the collective voice of people, “they could not be more sorely mistaken.”
“We will come out onto the streets in more numbers than ever before. This government has lost the plot.”
12:24 pm: All India Students’ Association Neha Bora has denounced the five-day judicial custody of CJP members, stating the government is making “all attempts to crush people’s dissent.
“The govt is making all attempts to crush people’s dissent and ensure this resistance vanishes,” she wrote on X. “Sending CJP’s Sauav and Ashutosh away is nothing but an attempt at that!”
12:14 pm: Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, likening him to the British rule. “Modiji kya aap angrez hai? Kya is desh mein British Raj chal raha hai? (Modiji, are you British? Is the British Raj still in force in this country?)” he questioned.
“I ask you this because – has chanting Bharat Mata ki Jai and hoisting the Tiranga become a crime, an offense in India,” he said in a video statement.
Referring to the arrest of the CJP’s Ranka and Das, he said, “When these young men hoisted the Tricolour, they were upholding the honor of Mother India. And yet, you had them jailed for five days?”
Singh asked whether the PM thought such “dictatorship” actions could silence the voices of the country’s youth, while he continued to “steal governments and votes” across the states.
He warned Modi not to start a “panga” with the youth, adding that the PM will soon understand how big of a mistake he made by arresting the CJP leaders.
12:05 pm: CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke has left for Delhi from Nagpur, following the arrest of Ashutosh Ranka, Saurav Das, and other organisation members.
Speaking to reporters at the airport, Dipke said, “I am worried about the country, Constitution and all those who are fighting to save the democracy and voting rights.”
He added, “As a citizen of our country, it is our duty to fight for the rights, Constitution which was given to us by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.”
“Since when waving Tiranga has become violation of peace in this country?” he questioned again. Earlier, Dipke thanked LoP Rahul Gandhi for speaking out against the arrest of his fellow members.
11:30 am: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court challenging the manner in which the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is being conducted, PTI reported.
Advocate Nizamuddin Pasha, appearing for Owaisi, urged a bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi to list the plea with similar matters due to be heard on Thursday. The bench indicated that it would examine the request, and the court agreed to hear the petition along with other pending ones on the issue.
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11:28 am An independent commission chaired by former Supreme Court judge Justice Madan Lokur will hold its first public hearing on Thursday, October 15, on voters’ grievances over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The commission, proposed by the Lawyers Association for Constitution (LAFC), will record the testimonies of voters at Jawahar Bhawan in New Delhi. The hearing is the first in a series planned across the country, meant to let affected voters put their concerns on record.
The other members are former Supreme Court judge Justice AK Patnaik, former Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Badar Durrez Ahmad, former Delhi High Court judge Justice Rekha Sharma and former Patna High Court judge Justice Anjana Prakash.
The commission has directed its Secretariat to inform the Election Commission of India (ECI) and invite it to nominate a senior officer to attend the proceedings.
10:54 am: American singer Mary Millben, 41, alleged that the CJP is “funded by donors in the US” who are against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She named CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke in her post.
Millben called on “young patriots” in India to peacefully protest against what she called the outfit’s “disruptive spirit”. She claimed such donors target conservative leaders globally by finding a US-educated person from the country, radicalising them and funding them to start “chaos and destruction.” The PTI report did not cite any evidence for the claim, and Dipke has not responded to it in the material available so far.
Millben is popular in India for her rendition of the national anthem and the bhajan “Om Jai Jagdish Hare”.
10:52 am: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi condemned the jailing of the two CJP leaders, saying waving the national flag in a peaceful protest was not a crime.
“Waving the Tricolour at Jantar Mantar in a peaceful protest is not a crime. Jailing youth for it is an act of cowardice,” Gandhi said.
He said students, youth, journalists and the INDIA bloc were protesting under different banners but for one cause. “All protests are one: citizens demanding their constitutional rights. Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India. We will reclaim it,” he said.
10:45 am: Delhi Police said Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka, Ajinkya Shinde and 11 other CJP members reached Jantar Mantar on Tuesday, October 13, by trespassing through a private premise. Jantar Mantar has been de-notified as a designated protest site.
Police personnel deployed at the spot tried to stop them, but the protesters allegedly obstructed officers in the discharge of their duties, officials said. All 14 were detained.
Two First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered on October 13: FIR No 289/26 at Connaught Place police station under Sections 223A, 332 and 61(2), and FIR No 128/26 at Parliament Street police station under Sections 221, 115(2), 132, 121(1) and 3(5). All 14 were subsequently bound down in the respective cases, police said.
Ranka, Das and Shinde were then arrested under preventive provisions of law, citing their alleged repeated attempts to disturb public peace and violate the law. Police said their alleged attempts to instigate others through social media to take part in similar unlawful activities were also taken into account.
The three were produced before the Special Executive Magistrate (SEM), where proceedings under Sections 126 and 170 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) were initiated. Police said the SEM remanded Das and Ranka to five days of judicial custody, going by the details in the kalandra, the police’s arrest report, and their alleged repeated violations of law. The magistrate also expressed serious apprehension that, if released, the two would again violate the law and instigate others to do the same, according to police.
Shinde was bound down to maintain peace and good behaviour for six months on a personal bond and a surety of Rs 5,000.
10:00 am: Ratna Singh accused the police of lying before the court. “Delhi police lied in front of the court today that a call was given for other protesters to join at Jantar Mantar yesterday. Absolutely false! No public call was ever made,” she said in a post on X. Taking a dig at the force, she added, “I feel bad that police has to act on orders from ‘top’. Itni wafadari!”
9:12 am: Advocate Abhisht Hela, who represents all three leaders, said that the ruling was passed without application of judicial mind and that Supreme Court guidelines were “completely disregarded.”
Hela pointed out that the officers who serve as SEMs are of Superintendent of Police rank. “They are senior police officers, not judicial magistrates,” he said.
He also objected to the reasoning behind the custody. According to Hela, the authority acted on presumption, saying it believed the leaders could do something, and sent them to jail on that basis. “They have been sent to judicial custody for five days for raising the slogan ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and waving the national flag,” he said, calling it a “black day for the country.”
9:04 am: Ajinkya Shinde said the group did nothing more than wave the national flag and raise the slogan of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” at Jantar Mantar. “For this, the dictatorial Modi-Shah government has sent Saurav and Ashutosh to jail for five days,” he said.
He pointed out that Wednesday was Ranka’s birthday. “On his birthday, he has been sent to jail for raising the slogan of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and waving the Tricolour,” Shinde said.
“This government has begun using its system and misusing its powers to violate the fundamental rights of the people of this country. I appeal to everyone that we must come together to bring an end to this dictatorial government,” he said. He added that if the government thought five days in jail would frighten Ranka and Das, it was “absolutely mistaken.”
According to Shinde, the two said they were entering jail with their heads held high and would not be afraid.
Additionally, Shinde said that the CJP is holding a party meeting where Dipke will attend to decide the group’s further course of action.
9:00 am: Reacting to the order, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke accused the Narendra Modi government of running an “unofficial emergency.”
“I want to tell Narendra Modi that if you want to impose an emergency in the country, do it officially. Why are you running an unofficial emergency where people are sent to five days of detention just for waving the national flag at Jantar Mantar? Such things did not happen even during the Emergency,” Dipke said.
He claimed Das, Ranka and Shinde had been held in illegal detention since Tuesday and were not allowed to meet their lawyers. “What was their crime?” he asked.
Calling those in power “utter cowards who are hiding behind the police”, Dipke dared the government to declare an Emergency officially.
9:00 am: Asked about protests by the Opposition INDIA bloc, Dipke said the CJP movement and the INDIA bloc were fighting for the same cause. “We all share a single goal, fighting against Gyanesh Kumar, who is rigging elections to help Narendra Modi stay in power,” he alleged.
He said the CJP is an independent pressure group and will always remain so, “but that does not mean we are against the INDIA bloc.”
The arrests are the second in four days. On Saturday, October 10, Ranka, Das and CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke were detained inside an aircraft after it landed in Delhi, hours before a protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls. Police had denied permission for the demonstration. On Sunday, an Executive Magistrate released the three on the condition that they would not breach the peace for a year. Delhi Police cite that bond as a ground for the fresh arrests of Ranka and Das.
On October 12, Delhi Police de-notified Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site, which is why the leaders’ entry on Tuesday is being treated as trespassing. The CJP calls the order a misuse of power. Their lawyer says SEMs are police officers, not judicial magistrates, and that Supreme Court guidelines were ignored. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said jailing youth for waving the Tricolour was “an act of cowardice.”
This post was last modified on October 14, 2026 4:12 pm