Delhi’s Special Executive Magistrate Court on Wednesday remanded Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka to five days of judicial custody following their preventive arrest by Delhi Police over allegations of trespassing at Jantar Mantar. Another CJP leader, Ajinkya Shinde, was released on a personal bond.
The three leaders were detained on Tuesday after scaling the locked gates and police barricades at Jantar Mantar, waving the Indian national flag and raising slogans. They have emerged as prominent faces of protests against the Narendra Modi government.
Their arrest came a day after Jantar Mantar was de-notified as a designated protest site. Delhi Police registered an FIR against the three leaders and several others, accusing them of attempting to enter the premises. The charges include unlawful assembly and disobedience of an order promulgated by a public servant.
Following their detention on Tuesday morning, the leaders were taken to Jaffarpur Kalan police station before being shifted to Parliament Street police station in the early hours of October 14.
Ahead of their court appearance, CJP’s head of legal affairs, Ratna Singh, alleged that the leaders had been denied access to their lawyers until late at night.
“They’ll be produced before the SCM Court in the morning. A possibility of Judicial Custody (JC) in the Tihar Jail is possible,” Singh wrote on X.
Reacting to the court’s decision, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke accused the Modi government of attempting to suppress dissent.
“Ashu and Saurav have been sent to 5 days judicial custody. Their fault? Unfurling tricolour at Jantar Mantar. Show some guts, @narendramodi. If you’re so determined to crush dissent, have the courage to officially declare an Emergency instead of hiding behind these cowardly tactics,” Dipke wrote on X.
