Around 1,000 protesters detained across Delhi over CJP’s ‘Jantar Mantar 2.0’ protest: Sources

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New Delhi: Around 1,000 protesters have been detained across the national capital so far on Saturday while attempting to march towards Jantar Mantar for a Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-led protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Delhi Police sources said.

Delhi Police continued to take demonstrators into preventive custody after informing them that permission had not been granted for the gathering.

CJP activist Abhijeet Dipke, who travelled from Mumbai to Delhi to participate in the protest, posted a video on Instagram alleging that police personnel detained him and his associates as they disembarked from their flight at Delhi Airport.

In the video, Dipke is heard alleging that police personnel entered the aircraft and attempted to detain them.

“So, you can see that Delhi Police is entering the plane to arrest us. They are all entering the plane. We just landed. All the Delhi Police officers are standing in the aisle. They are trying to arrest us from inside the plane. The entire Delhi Police is getting on the plane… This is the fear of Narendra Modi… Not even Indira Gandhi did this during the Emergency. All we wanted to do is a peaceful protest, and they are picking us up from the flight like we are criminals,” he said.

He further alleged, “You can see where the nation is heading. They are here to arrest us directly from the flight. This is something not even Indira Gandhi had done. This is dictatorship, where Delhi Police has entered the flight and is trying to arrest us. Come on, arrest us. We are here to be arrested. Come on, arrest us. We are here to be arrested… We are not afraid of you.”

The CJP also shared a video of its legal head, Ratna Singh, who claimed that police personnel were detaining her while she was attempting to leave her home in her car.

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In the video, Singh alleged that police personnel had arrived at her residence in the morning and sought to detain her without providing official documentation.

“They came to my house in the morning and were told that I am not here. We asked for official notification; do they have some? They have nothing. They just said, ‘We need to detain you, we have orders from above.’ I don’t know which ‘above’ the orders came from for them. And they keep saying, ‘Get out of the car, we will detain you at your home.’ They don’t even want to take me anywhere else, they want me to stay here only. And I am not getting out of the car. They are not leaving this space, so I am in a way, illegally detained on the road,” she said.

The CJP also claimed that content creator Dhruv Rathee had been detained, alleging in a social media post that the government was afraid of young people questioning its actions.

Meanwhile, security personnel remained deployed at multiple locations across the national capital as CJP activists continued their call for a protest against the Election Commission of India (ECI). Entry points to Delhi were placed under heightened security, while 46 Metro stations remained closed, according to the details provided.

As part of the security arrangements, the New Delhi district was divided into 20 operational zones, with dedicated detention centres established for each zone, police said.

“The New Delhi district has been divided into 20 zones, and dedicated detention centres have been set up for each zone. Stadiums across the national capital have also been converted into temporary detention centres,” the police added.

(Source: ANI)

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