Hours after his release from detention, Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke left for his village in Maharashtra following the death of his grandmother on Saturday.
The bench also directed that internet services should not be disrupted, subject to law and order requirements. YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, who was detained by Gurugram Police ahead of his planned participation in the CJP protest, was also released at 3 am on Sunday and handed over to his family.
He said CJP co-convenors Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka would address a press conference in Delhi and vowed that the group “won’t back down” after authorities thwarted its proposed protest demanding the resignation of chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. It also issued a notice to the Centre on a petition seeking contempt proceedings over the alleged violation of its earlier order against a “complete prohibition” on metro and train services in Delhi ahead of the CJP protest. During a special sitting, a bench comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to ensure that Delhi Metro services operated according to their regular schedule.
The Supreme Court on Sunday directed authorities not to illegally detain people participating in peaceful gatherings.
“Heading back to my village to be with my family during this moment of grief. Saurav and Ashu will address a press conference shortly in Delhi. The CJP will neither back down nor be intimidated. In his first social media post after his release, Dipke wrote on X: “Modi, as PM, is an embarrassment to India. Never has this country seen a bigger coward and bully.
October 10 will go down as the beginning of the end of this dictatorship,” he wrote on X. More than 7,000 protesters were detained at different locations, preventing them from reaching Jantar Mantar.
CJP legal affairs head Ratna Singh said the three leaders were released on the condition that they would not “breach peace” for a year. Das and Ranka were also released on Sunday after being produced before an executive magistrate. The two had been detained at Delhi airport on Saturday, along with Dipke, ahead of the planned protest at Jantar Mantar. Their detention took place during a large-scale security operation across Delhi on Saturday.
