NEW DELHI: An Indian court on Wednesday ordered the release of two “cockroach” movement leaders who were jailed last week, local media reported, amid a mounting state crackdown on youth-led protests against manipulation of the electoral roll.
A local court in the Indian capital of New Delhi ordered the release of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, legal website Live Law said.
Their arrest came after a draconian police crackdown on a CJP march held in the capital two weeks ago to protest manipulation of the country’s electoral roll, which led to the barricading of central Delhi and thousands of young people being detained.
Delhi: CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka come out of Tihar Jail after the SEM Court ordered their release. https://t.co/dPMlbJiIjo
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Das and Ranka were among 14 people who scaled barricades on October 13 to enter the Jantar Mantar observatory in central Delhi, a day after it was removed from a list of designated protest sites.
The group unfurled the national flag and chanted slogans demanding the chief election commissioner’s resignation before police detained them, with a court later sending them to prison for five days. On Monday, their prison stay was extended for two more days.
Their detention had provoked outrage among leaders and supporters of the youth movement, who accused the government of “cowardice” for jailing CJP leaders for holding a peaceful protest.
The youth-led CJP, opposition parties and student organisations have held several protests this month demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar quit over a revision of voter lists to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
After the magistrate’s ruling on Wednesday evening, Das said that “truth has triumphed”.
The release of the two leaders is likely to come as a blow to the ruling Narendra Modi government, which has implemented an unforgiving crackdown on recent protests that have erupted across India.
The CJP, alongside the opposition alliance, student groups and civil society, have been calling for the resignation of the chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, who is accused of overseeing a revision of the electoral roll that benefits Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and has led to more than 130 million names being deleted from the voter register.
The CJP began as an online satire earlier this year, but has since grown into a fully fledged political movement, challenging the powerful Modi government. Over the summer, it was Cockroach-led protests that forced the resignation of Modi’s education minister after sustained demonstrations.
Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of the CJP movement, vowed over the weekend that the Modi regime and threat of jail would not intimidate the Cockroaches.
Dipke was also detained on Friday after he called for a peaceful demonstration in central Delhi where CJP supporters would gather and wave the Indian flag in solidarity with Das and Ranka.
He had said that, once his fellow Cockroach leaders were released, they would “gather, re-strategise, and determine how to move forward”.
“The illegal arrests and detentions we have witnessed over the past few days indicate an attempt to intimidate us,” said Dipke. “But we will not be cowed down or retreat. This is a long battle and we are prepared for it.”
