DELHI’S PREVENTIVE DETENTION DRIVE HITS CJP LEADERS BEFORE RALLY, SPARKING WIDENING PROTEST
October 10, 2026
The Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) planned demonstration at Jantar Mantar against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar faced a sweeping police crackdown on Saturday, October 10, with party leaders, lawyers, student activists and prospective demonstrators detained before the protest could get underway. The police action extended across Delhi and several other locations, sharply restricting the movement of people seeking to participate in the rally.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, co-convenor Saurav Das and party leader Ashutosh Ranka were detained inside an aircraft after their flight from Mumbai landed in Delhi. YouTuber Dhruv Rathee was also detained at his residence in Gurugram. CJP legal team head Ratna Singh alleged that she and three other lawyers had been detained ahead of the demonstration.
The scale of the preventive action expanded throughout the morning. More than 1,600 people were reported to have been detained across Delhi, although the precise number of CJP supporters among those detained remained unclear. More than 400 members of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) were detained after beginning a march towards Jantar Mantar at around 10 am, according to SFI national president Adarsh M. Saji. The organisation also alleged that police personnel visited H.K.S. Surjeet Bhawan, which houses its central executive committee office, on Friday night while searching for people planning to attend the protest.
Several lawyers marching from the Supreme Court towards Jantar Mantar were stopped at barricades on Bhagwan Das Road and detained. One lawyer said police had permitted the group to march for approximately 100 yards before stopping them. The demonstrators carried posters and raised slogans demanding Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation. CPI(M) general secretary M. A. Baby, senior party leader Brinda Karat and other CPI(M) leaders were also detained at Jantar Mantar amid the security operation.
The preventive measures were not confined to the national capital. Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, was detained ahead of a solidarity demonstration in Mumbai supporting the CJP’s agitation. In Madhya Pradesh, at least 14 students travelling from Pune were reportedly taken off the Goa Express and detained at Itarsi on Friday. Four CJP volunteers from Telangana had also been detained at Bhopal railway station on October 8 while travelling to Delhi for the rally.
The planned demonstration was called to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Opposition groups have argued that the revision process raises concerns about voter deletions, transparency and citizens’ voting rights. Delhi Police had denied permission for the proposed gathering, citing security and procedural concerns.
CJP leaders condemned the detentions as an attempt to prevent their organisation from assembling and carrying its campaign to the capital. Dipke criticised his detention at the airport and described the police action as “dictatorship”. Das also rejected the suggestion that the movement could be stopped by detaining its leaders, declaring that further mobilisation was forthcoming. The party demanded the release of those detained and said its campaign would continue.
Student leaders also criticised the authorities’ actions. All India Students’ Association president Neha Bora accused the administration of undermining democratic values through the preventive detention of activists and protesters. The sweeping restrictions have intensified concerns about the extent to which police can intervene before a demonstration begins, particularly when the organisers’ demands concern electoral accountability.
The confrontation has placed the right to peaceful assembly at the centre of the dispute. While Delhi Police has cited procedural and public-order concerns to justify denying permission for the rally, the detention of political leaders, lawyers, students and people travelling from other states has raised fresh questions about the proportionality of preventive policing and the space available for dissent in the national capital.
