A Delhi court on Saturday ordered the conditional release of Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), following his arrest a day earlier. Dipke had been detained while attempting to participate in a protest march at Connaught Place against alleged electoral fraud. Under the terms of his release, he was required to provide a Rs 50,000 bond and submit an undertaking to maintain public order. He was released from the Mandir Marg police station shortly after the hearing before a Special Executive Magistrate.
Following his release, Dipke posted a scene from the film 'Veer-Zara' on social media, humorously comparing his 24-hour detention to the film's protagonist being released after two decades in prison. This incident follows a previous detention on October 10, when Dipke was taken into custody at the Delhi airport and signed a similar one-year peace bond.
Other activists also faced police action during the demonstrations. Neha Bora, president of the All India Students' Association (AISA), was released early Saturday morning after being held in preventive custody under the Delhi Police Act. Upon her release, Bora criticized the detentions as illegal and demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. "I was detained at Mandi House and kept here (at the police station) the whole night, until 5 am. Why are you (police) carrying out these illegal detentions?" she stated to the news agency PTI, while calling for the release of all remaining protesters.
While Dipke and Bora were released, other CJP leaders, including Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, remain in judicial custody. They were arrested for trespassing at Jantar Mantar, a site that was recently denotified as a designated protest venue.
Delhi Police reported that approximately 150 people were detained on Friday to manage traffic and maintain law and order. Security measures were tightened around Connaught Place, with Central Park cordoned off and Rapid Action Force personnel deployed to the area. While the BJP has characterized the protests as attempts to spread anarchy, the Election Commission maintains that its procedures have been approved by the Supreme Court.
