The second day of the Cockroach Janta Party’s protest witnessed detentions of more than 700 persons, some of whom were detained for almost seven hours, with their phones snatched and taken to detention centres, which are 30-40 km away.
One of the detainees, Arjun Unnikrishnan (30), is a researcher and a lawyer who was at Connaught Place around 3-3.30 pm on Sunday to protest against the chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, when he was detained. “Around 7.30, we reached a community centre in Pandwalan Khurd. There were over 50 men. They released us around 10 pm, but didn’t give phones to a few people.
“I had just reached Connaught Place when my friends and I saw a group of police personnel detaining a couple. The police personnel then approached us and started pushing us. They shoved us inside a DTC bus along with locals who were not even part of the protest. We were taken close to Palika Bazaar side. Soon, the police started acting like mad people. They first made us sit on the road in rows. They snatched our phones…many of us had tried to record them. People who refused to share their phone passwords were humiliated and abused. There was a senior journalist with us who was recording everything. We saw how they attacked only a select few people. They were not giving us water. Two men were severely injured and had fractures, but the police were not even helping. For the next two hours, we kept shouting for water, food and medical aid. It was only after people started screaming and shouting that a senior officer came and intervened. We were shocked. I went straight to the hospital. I had injuries on my face, chest and back”
He said he spent almost seven hours in detention in different parts, which was a complete nightmare for him. Nobody had a choice,” Arjun told HT. When those men asked about their phones, police men said it was a different department that took them.
