CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka detained as they sneak into Jantar Mantar

New Delhi: CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained on Tuesday after they sneaked into the heavily guarded Jantar Mantar with the Indian national flag in their hands and raised slogans demanding resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar.

In a post on X, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke shared the video showing Ranka and Das jumping the gates and barricades and reaching the protest site and later taken away by Delhi Police in a van. CJP termed the Centre and Delhi Police decision to remove Jantar Mantar as an authorised demonstration site, as a blatant assault on constitutional rights, calling it a "de-notification of democracy itself."

Addressing a press conference, CJP activist Mehr Parsicha asserted that public spaces belong to all citizens and cannot be commandeered by the state to silence dissent. "Cockroaches have shown that this country does not belong to just one person. Jantar Mantar does not belong to one individual. Jantar Mantar belongs to all of us. Today, they showed that you cannot simply snatch away our rights," she said. Criticising the heavy security arrangements across Central Delhi, she questioned the deployment of massive paramilitary and police forces to curb peaceful gatherings.