New Delhi: Shortly after landing at the Delhi Airport for their protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, three Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) office-bearers—Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka—were taken into preventive custody by the Delhi Police. Dipke, Das and Ranka were detained while they were still inside the flight. A team of around two dozen women constables entered the aircraft after it landed and informed the trio that their request for protest had been denied. Dipke recorded and beamed the conversation with the police personnel on an Instagram live.
So far on Saturday, around 200 people have been detained amid restrictions imposed to prevent the CJP and other organisations from organising their ‘Jantar Mantar 2.0’ agitation, meant as a protest against alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. The detainees, including YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and the CJP’s Ratna Singh, have been taken away to makeshift detention centres.
According to the CJP, Rathee was detained from his residence in Sector 56, Gurugram, and CJP legal cell head Singh from her Delhi home, after being surrounded by police vehicles. Party leader Mehr was also detained from her residence early in the morning, it claimed.
“The arrests (sic) are part of an aggressive, citywide government crackdown designed to silence democratic dissent regarding electoral roll irregularities,” the CJP said in a statement.
“The CJP demands the immediate and unconditional release of Rathee, and the hundreds of other citizens and student activists currently held in custody,” it added.
ThePrint reached senior officials from the Indira Gandhi International Airport and Delhi Police for a comment on the detentions, but no response was received. A senior police officer from Gurugram Police, however, confirmed to ThePrint that Rathee had been placed under preventative detention ahead of the planned protest.
Delhi Police inside the aircraft
Dipke shared a video from inside the aircraft, stating that Delhi Police personnel had entered the flight. “Delhi Police officers have lined up, and are standing here. They are planning to pick us up from the plane itself,” Dipke says in the video.
As they spotted the police personnel, Dipke, Das and Ranka started chanting “Inquilab Zindabad” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai”.
Chaos then unfolded inside the aircraft between the police personnel and the CJP leadership as the other passengers stood witness.
“Where is the nation heading? They are here to arrest us in the flight. Even Indira Gandhi (who imposed Emergency) didn’t do this. This is dictatorship,” Dipke says.
Multiple eyewitnesses confirmed to ThePrint that the trio was taken away from the tarmac by Delhi Police in a separate bus.
The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) in its statement condemned “the authoritarian detention of CJP leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das, and Ashutosh Ranka straight from their flight upon landing in Delhi today”.
“This pre-planned interception by the Delhi Police aims to cripple the leadership of today’s peaceful demonstrations before they even reach the protest site. The CJP denounces this blatant violation of freedom of movement and demands the immediate, unconditional release of Dipke, Das, and Ranka,” the statement said.
Despite the “sweeping detentions”, the CJP said it “maintains a firm stand”.
“The party emphasises that the nationwide protest demanding the immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar will go forward with or without its leadership.”
Lawyers detained
New Delhi has been turned into a virtual fortress ahead of the planned protest: barricades have been placed, drones set up, internet shut down, and a massive security deployment mobilised. Prohibitory restrictions are also in place in the New Delhi district.
Several lawyers had announced a march Saturday, ahead of the protests, from the Supreme Court to the Jantar Mantar. But they were reportedly detained as well. Other protesters who gathered early morning at the Jantar Mantar protest site were detained as well.