Hours before the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) could begin its proposed demonstration at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, the party’s founder, Abhijeet Dipke and other two members were detained by Delhi Police from inside an Air India flight, shortly after its touchdown in the national capital on Saturday.
Dramatic scenes unfolded inside the flight as Dipke challenged the cops over the manner of his detention.
A screengrab from the detention
Video surfaces online
A video shared by Dipke showed police personnel entering the aircraft and approaching the CJP members. The members of the outfit questioned why the cops had not waited for passengers to disembark before taking action.
In the video, Dipke was heard telling the women police personnel, “You could have waited till we came out. Come arrest us, we are not afraid.”
Dipke, as well as the party’s co-convenors Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das were picked from the aircraft thereafter. They were then escorted from the airport to an undisclosed location.
CJP condemns authoritarian detentions
In a statement issued on ‘X,’ the CJP criticised the ‘alleged authoritarian detention’ of Dipke, Das and Ranka immediately after their arrival in Delhi. The party alleged that the police action was aimed at preventing the party’s leadership from reaching the protest venue and participating in the stir.
The statement issued by the outfit read, “This pre-planned interception by the Delhi Police aims to cripple the leadership of today's peaceful demonstrations before they even reach the protest site.”
Furthermore, it accused the authorities of violating the leaders’ freedom of movement and voiced demands for their ‘immediate, unconditional release.’
Dhurv Rathee also detained
Earlier on Saturday, the cops also laid hands on YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and CJP’s legal cell head, Ratna Singh, as a purported attempt to prevent them from taking part in the protest.
YouTuber Dhruv Rathee
Delhi Police said they have detained more than 400 suspected protestors from various parts of the national capital overnight. Notably, on Friday, the police had denied permission for the CJP stir, citing the failure to seek approval sufficiently in advance.
Security beefed up across national capital
Authorities brought extensive restrictions into force ahead of the planned protest. 45 metro stations were shut, while dozens of train services were cancelled to curb the movement of protestors, as per reports.
The Union government also deployed more than 20,000 personnel attached to the police and the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) to ensure the upkeep of law and order.