Delhi court orders release of Cockroach Janta Party leaders Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka
A Delhi Special Executive Magistrate (SEM) has ordered the release of Cockroach Janta Party leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka from judicial custody.
by Zee Media Bureau · Zee NewsA Delhi Special Executive Magistrate (SEM) on Wednesday ordered the immediate release of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka from judicial custody, hours after the Delhi High Court refused to entertain their petition and advised them to wait for the lower court's decision. The two activists were detained by the Delhi Police on October 13 for allegedly climbing over barricades to trespass into the restricted protest site at Jantar Mantar.
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Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ritu Raj, acting as the Special Executive Magistrate, issued the release order after accepting the sureties furnished by Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, according to legal news portal Bar and Bench.
Delhi High Court questions Das, Ranka
Earlier in the day, the Delhi High Court bench headed by Justice Subramonium Prasad questioned the maintainability of the activists' writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution. The court suggested that the petitioners should instead approach a revisional court or wait for the SEM, which was already scheduled to reconsider their sureties later in the afternoon.
"You are a person who has actually broken a bond... Your remedy actually lies in revision," Justice Prasad observed, noting that while the petition was maintainable, the High Court would not immediately entertain it when alternative legal routes were available.
Following the court's observations, advocate Abhik Chimni, representing the activists, agreed to withdraw the plea against their judicial custody temporarily.
During the high court proceedings, the bench also defended the strict verification of sureties for individuals accused of breaking preventive bonds. "A person goes there, gives a bond, breaks the bond... in such a case, insistence on a surety, can it be said to be that illegal or that much against the law?" the judge asked. Justice Prasad added that breaching barricades during public protests could incite others to violate restrictions imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
End of eight-day custody following surety verification
The lower court's order for release marks the end of an eight-day detention for the CJP leaders. Das and Ranka were initially remanded to five days of judicial custody on October 14, which was subsequently extended by another two days on October 19 after the SEM rejected their initial sureties over verification discrepancies. Police had claimed that one surety's face did not match his Aadhaar card photograph, while another failed to provide basic personal details about the accused.
In their high court petition, the activists had challenged the extension of their custody under Section 135(3) of the BNSS, arguing that the magistrate had mechanically relied on the police's application without an independent judicial mind. Relying on the landmark 2018 Aldanish Rein v State of NCT of Delhi judgment, the duo argued that they should have been released on a personal bond while their sureties were undergoing verification.
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