A court in Indian capital Delhi has released the top leaders of the Gen Z-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) as the city sees more protests for a second day with thousands of security personnel deployed and roads barricaded.
Abhijeet Dipke – who began the movement in May after India’s Chief Justice likened some jobless young people to “cockroaches” – and other leaders were arrested on arrival in Delhi on Saturday to lead protests seeking electoral reforms.
In his first comments after his release, Dipke said “the CJP will neither back down nor be intimidated”.
On Saturday, media reports said, 7,000 demonstrators were detained and released late at night.
The CJP – which is not registered as a political party in India – is seeking electoral reforms just months before crucial state elections.
It has also demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over allegations of manipulating voters’ lists – which the Election Commission has denied.
On Sunday morning, the CJP lawyer Ratna Singh said she had been informed by the police that Dipke and two other senior CJP leaders – Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka – would be produced before the magistrate by the police seeking their remand “to maintain public peace”.
She subsequently posted on X that the three had been set free by the court “on the condition that they will not engage in breach of peace for one year” – she later deleted the post about the condition and it’s not clear what that means and whether the CJP leaders can take part in protests.
After his release, Dipke posted on X, external, saying: “Modi, as PM, is an embarrassment to India.”
In another post, external, he said he was going to his village to attend his grandmother’s funeral who died around the time of his arrest yesterday.
“Heading back to my village to be with my family during this moment of grief,” he posted, adding that Das and Ranka would address a press conference in Delhi.
“The CJP will neither back down nor be intimidated,” he added.
Saturday saw dramatic scenes as police officials boarded the flight to detain Dipke, Das and Ranka as their plane landed.
