NEW DELHI: Two leaders of India’s youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) have been remanded in judicial custody for five days after protesters defied police restrictions to demonstrate against irregularities in voter rolls and demand the resignation of the country’s chief election commissioner.
Ashutosh Ranka, 30, and Saurav Das, 27, were detained on Tuesday after climbing over barricades to enter Jantar Mantar, a protest site in central New Delhi. A local court ordered their five-day detention on Wednesday.
The arrests followed days of demonstrations by young activists, opposition groups and students demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over allegations that the Election Commission had manipulated voter rolls to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The commission has denied wrongdoing, saying the voter-roll revision was intended to remove duplicate and ineligible entries.
Amnesty International asked the Delhi authorities to immediately release CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka. “Their arrests, following the removal of the site’s designation as an authorised protest venue, raise serious concerns about shrinking space for peaceful protest and dissent in India.”
The Delhi authorities must immediately release Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, who have been remanded to five days of judicial custody after trying to protest at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday. Their arrests, following the removal of the site’s designation as an authorized protest venue, raise serious concerns about shrinking space for peaceful protest and dissent in India.
https://t.co/ZH11bcwwDO— Amnesty India (@AIIndia) October 14, 2026
Police Intensify Crackdown Against Protesters
Delhi Police removed Jantar Mantar from its list of authorised protest venues, which has long been used for political protests and public gatherings.
The CJP has criticised the decision, arguing that moving demonstrations away from Jantar Mantar would make it harder for protesters to attract public attention.
Ranka and Das were among about a dozen activists who crossed barricades to enter the site on Tuesday. Videos shared by CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and other activists showed protesters carrying national flags and chanting slogans demanding Kumar’s resignation and “vote chor”.
Police accused the activists of trespassing, violating prohibitory orders and breaching conditions imposed during earlier proceedings. The CJP has challenged the allegations.
The arrests followed a weekend crackdown during which police detained thousands of demonstrators, including journalists, before releasing them.
Authorities deployed thousands of police and paramilitary personnel and closed several metro stations to prevent protesters from reaching Jantar Mantar.
CJP legal team head Ratna Singh alleged that the detained activists had been denied access to lawyers for several hours before being taken to a police station.
Opposition Condemns Arrests
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party condemned the arrests and expressed support for peaceful demonstrations.
“Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India. We will reclaim it,” Gandhi wrote on X, describing the detention of the young activists as “an act of cowardice”.
Other opposition leaders, including Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal, also voiced support for the CJP and criticised the arrests.
Dipke, who was detained ahead of a planned march in New Delhi over the weekend and later released, accused the government of suppressing dissent.
He challenged Modi to declare a state of emergency formally rather than impose emergency-like restrictions without an official proclamation.
Rights advocates and political opponents have raised serious concerns over pressure on journalists, civil society organisations and opposition figures during Modi’s more than a decade in power.
Dispute over Voter-Roll Revision
The protests centre on a nationwide electoral-roll revision known as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which began in Bihar in June 2025 and has since expanded to other parts of India.
More than 130 million names have reportedly been removed from voter lists during the exercise, according to media reports.
Critics say the revision could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters and has disproportionately affected minorities, particularly Muslims.
Opponents have questioned the exercise’s timing and implementation, arguing that it could benefit the BJP.
The controversy intensified after The Indian Express reported that election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised concerns at least 14 times over 10 months about decisions relating to voter registration and electoral databases. The newspaper said the concerns included changes made without their knowledge.
Critics have also raised concerns about the potential impact on India’s Muslim population, estimated at around 200 million, who are less likely to support the BJP.
Youth-Led Movement Challenges Modi Govt
The CJP began as an online satirical movement after a remark by India’s Chief Justice Surya Kant during a court hearing in May comparing unemployed young people to cockroaches.
The remark became a rallying point for young people expressing frustration over unemployment, education and government accountability.
The group subsequently developed into a broader pressure movement, attracting students and young activists demanding electoral reforms and greater government accountability.
Earlier protests focused on examination irregularities and education reforms. Weeks of demonstrations led by the group culminated in the resignation of federal Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in July.
The CJP launched its latest nationwide protests in Mumbai on October 2, following a report by The Indian Express alleging irregularities in the handling of voter registration changes by the Election Commission.
