Arrests at Jantar Mantar

Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), were arrested on Tuesday, 13 October, after about a dozen people climbed police barricades to enter Jantar Mantar, an observatory in central New Delhi. The site had served as the capital's designated protest ground for more than 30 years, but police removed that status shortly before the protest. Police accused the two men of trespass and of disobeying a prohibition order. A social media post by CJP founder Abhijit Dipke showed the group waving Indian flags as they went over the barriers.

Five days in judicial custody

The party and police announced on 14 October that a court had ordered the two men held in judicial custody for five days. Their lawyer told reporters they were held for breaching a condition attached to their release from custody the previous week. Police said the men had repeatedly violated the terms and that there were serious concerns they would break the law again and urge others to do so if granted bail. The Guardian reports that the five days are to be served in Delhi's Tihar prison. Another CJP leader, released on a personal bond, said the party would not be intimidated by the arrests.

Weekend crackdown and the protest ban

The CJP had called for a protest at Jantar Mantar on Saturday, 10 October, to demand the resignation of Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Police denied permission and deployed about 30,000 police and paramilitary personnel, with barricades blocking the site. The Guardian reports that more than 7,000 people were detained. Afterwards police declared that protests would no longer be allowed at Jantar Mantar, a decision the CJP leaders said they were protesting against when they entered the site. Before his arrest, Das questioned on social media why Narendra Modi would be frightened of a protest ground.

Why is Narendra Modi scared of Jantar Mantar? Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India.

The electoral roll dispute

The protests are tied to a nationwide revision of electoral rolls that has removed more than 130 million names since the process began in 2025. The Election Commission says the exercise targets duplicate entries and people who are not eligible to vote, denies favouring any party, and says wrongly deleted voters can re-enrol. The opposition argues the revision could strip eligible voters of their vote to the benefit of the BJP, the party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a charge the BJP and the commission both deny. Rahul Gandhi condemned the arrests as an act of cowardice and wrote on social media that the site belongs to the people.

Movement response and background

Dipke's post tagged Modi and accused the central government of adopting a cowardly strategy. He wrote:

You cannot denotify the resistance.

Dipke also said the CJP is an independent pressure group that will remain so, and that this does not mean it opposes the INDIA alliance, which both groups want to see Kumar resign. The movement grew out of an online satirical campaign over the summer, after the chief justice of the Supreme Court compared unemployed young people to parasites. Its protests also forced the resignation of Modi's education minister in July.