CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke reacted to the court’s decision in a post on X, writing, “Ashutosh and Saurav have been sent to five days of judicial custody. Their crime? Hoisting the Tricolour at Jantar Mantar.
“Show some courage, Narendra Modi. If you are so determined to crush voices of dissent, have the courage to officially declare an Emergency instead of hiding behind these cowardly tactics.”
Ajinkya Shinde, national in-charge of the Cockroach Janata Party, also addressed the incident, saying that he, Ashutosh, Saurav Das and some CJP workers had gone to Jantar Mantar. According to Shinde, they had only waved the Indian national flag, the Tricolour, and raised the slogan “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”.
“For this, the dictatorial Modi-Shah government has sent Saurav and Ashutosh to jail for five days. Today was Ashutosh’s birthday, and he was sent to jail for raising the slogan ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and waving the Tricolour on his birthday,” Shinde said.
He alleged that the government had begun using the entire state machinery and misusing its powers to violate citizens’ fundamental rights. He appealed to people across the country to unite to end what he described as a dictatorial government.
Shinde further said that if the government believed sending the two leaders to jail for five days would frighten them, it was seriously mistaken. He said they were entering jail with their heads held high and had demonstrated to the people of the country that they would not be intimidated.
Earlier, Ratna Singh, CJP’s head of legal affairs, said Delhi Police had arrested Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka and Ajinkya Shinde in connection with the Jantar Mantar case and taken them to Parliament Street Police Station.
In a post on X, Singh said she had just received information that Saurav, Ashutosh and Ajinkya were likely to be produced before the Special Executive Magistrate (SEM) at Mandir Marg Police Station within the next hour. She noted that the 24-hour period since they had been taken into custody was about to expire.
Singh said the three had been booked on charges including unauthorised entry, violation of bond conditions and obstructing a public servant in the discharge of official duties, among other allegations.
She said they were expected to be produced before the SEM court in the morning and that they could be sent to Tihar Jail under judicial custody. According to Singh, they had not been allowed to meet their lawyers until late at night and had been brought to Parliament Street Police Station in a private van at 3 am. She described the police actions as unlawful and said the detainees remained resolute despite the circumstances.
Speaking to the media, Singh alleged that Delhi Police was operating according to a particular “rulebook” determined by orders from above rather than the law.
“We are currently seeing Delhi Police functioning according to a particular ‘rulebook’. This rulebook is determined on the basis of orders received from above. The police are bypassing the law and following this rulebook,” she said.
Singh said people who had gone to Jantar Mantar merely to hoist the Tricolour had been detained. She said nearly 24 hours had passed without the detainees being allowed to meet a lawyer. According to her, the police initially did not disclose the grounds for their detention or arrest, although those grounds were subsequently communicated.
She questioned whether Delhi Police was acting arbitrarily in the prevailing circumstances.
Singh further alleged that the police had prevented not only ordinary party workers but also lawyers who had been present at the police station since morning from meeting the detainees. She said the station house officer and other officials at the site repeatedly maintained that they were acting on orders received from above.
“Then who is giving these orders to Delhi Police, which are themselves being treated as if they are above the law?” she asked.
Earlier, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke had posted a photograph of the three men on X, writing that “Cockroach Ajinkya, Ashutosh and Saurav Das are inside Parliament Street Police Station. Nothing can break their morale.”
CJP chief spokesperson Saurav Das and national spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka had been detained by Delhi Police on Tuesday morning. Ranka shared a video on his X account showing himself and Das, accompanied by the party’s national in-charge Ajinkya Shinde, climbing the closed gate at Jantar Mantar to enter the premises. Police personnel present at the site intervened and apprehended them.
The attempt to enter Jantar Mantar, located in Lutyens’ Delhi, came a day after the venue was removed from the list of designated sites for protests.
A circular issued by Delhi Police on Monday identified three new locations across the city for organising demonstrations, effectively prohibiting protests at Jantar Mantar. The CJP had held a major agitation at the venue in June and July, following which Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had to resign.
According to the circular, the Ministry of Home Affairs had constituted a committee to identify suitable alternative locations for protests and sit-ins, taking into account citizens’ right to demonstrate and hold such gatherings.
The circular stated that, based on the committee’s recommendations, Jantar Mantar had been removed from the list of designated protest venues. It named three alternative locations for demonstrations: Ramlila Maidan, Burari Maidan and the CBD Ground in Shahdara.
The court’s remand order comes amid the dispute over access to Jantar Mantar, the arrest of three CJP leaders and allegations by the party’s representatives that police action violated fundamental rights. The new restrictions on the protest site and the designation of alternative venues form the administrative backdrop to the case.
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