A New Delhi court ordered on Sunday the release of three leaders of the ‘cockroach’ movement, including its founder Abhijeet Dipke, a day after they were detained, their lawyer said. The lawyer, Ratna Singh, said in a social media post that an Executive Magistrate court had released Abhijeet, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka.
The three were detained on Saturday ahead of a major protest in the capital against India’s election commissioner. The group said police had also stopped thousands of other protesters who were trying to join the demonstration.
Thousands detained as protesters tried to reach Jantar Mantar
The movement, known as the CJP, began in May as a satirical online campaign. It said thousands of protesters were detained in New Delhi as they tried to march to the Jantar Mantar protest site, despite a heavy security clampdown.
Ajinkya Shinde, a CJP leader, told a news conference in Delhi that more than 15,000 protesters had been detained. He also said: “We will be back, let them fill up all the jails.” Police did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the detentions.
Reporters at the scene saw dozens of protesters shouting anti-government slogans as they were taken away in police vehicles. One national daily reported that more than 5,000 people had been detained, although that figure could not immediately be verified. Two media outlets said their journalists had also been briefly detained.
Demands for the election commissioner to resign
The protest is the latest stage of weeks of opposition mobilisation over alleged misconduct in a nationwide voter roll revision carried out by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Critics have called for the commission’s chief, Gyanesh Kumar, to step down. They argue the revision could disenfranchise millions of voters and benefit the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The ECI has rejected allegations of impropriety. It says the revision was meant to remove duplicate and ineligible voters, including what it called “foreign illegal immigrants.” According to Indian media reports citing ECI data, the voter list overhaul, which began in 2025, has led to more than 133 million names being excluded from draft rolls.
Last month, a national newspaper reported that key decisions linked to the revision were likely taken without the approval of two of the three election commissioners. The ECI, a constitutional body, says all its decisions were unanimous and legally valid.
Security tightened and demonstrators say their rights were denied
Ahead of the protest, authorities in the capital deployed thousands of police, closed dozens of metro stations, cancelled more than 200 trains and temporarily shut down mobile internet around the protest site. Angry demonstrators told reporters they were being denied the right to protest peacefully.
The demonstrations are widely seen as a repeat of the movement’s mass mobilisation in July, which led to the education minister stepping down over an examination scandal. This time, protesters are demanding Kumar’s resignation and a halt to the voter revision exercise.
Political analyst Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay said the protest comes at a time when Modi appears to be “at his weakest politically and individually.” Modi, who is 76, is in his third term. Although India’s next general elections are not due until 2029, Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state, goes to the polls next year. “I see this becoming a bigger challenge in the coming months,” Mukhopadhyay said.
