Court orders 5-day judicial custody to CJP’s Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka

An Executive Magistrate on Wednesday sent Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka to five days of judicial custody in a trespassing case, according to PTI.

The two were lodged in Tihar Jail on Wednesday for allegedly violating their peace bonds and trespassing into Jantar Mantar, which was denotified as a protest area, police sources said, according to ANI.

CJP leader Abhijeet Dipke confirmed it in a post on X. He said the two had been sent to five days of judicial custody for unfurling the tricolour at Jantar Mantar.


Also read: CJP's Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka, Ajinkya Shinde placed under preventive arrest for allegedly trespassing at Jantar Mantar

Dipke also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the post. “Show some guts, @narendramodi. If you’re so determined to crush dissent, have the courage to officially declare an Emergency instead of hiding behind these cowardly tactics,” he wrote.

CJP leader Ajinkya Shinde said he, Das, Ranka and CJP volunteers went to Jantar Mantar and “simply waved the Indian national flag and raised the slogan of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’.” He alleged that the “dictatorial Modi-Shah government” sent the two leaders to jail for this.

“I want to tell the people of the entire country that this government has begun using its system and misusing its powers to violate the fundamental rights of the people of this country,” Shinde said. He appealed to people to come together to end what he called a dictatorial government.

Shinde said any attempt to frighten the two leaders by sending them to jail for five days is “absolutely mistaken.” He said they told him they were entering jail with their heads held high and would not be afraid.

The two were produced before the court after Delhi Police arrested them along with Ajinkya Shinde. Police registered a case when the activists tried to enter Jantar Mantar, a day after authorities de-notified the site as a designated protest location. Delhi Police sources had earlier said the activists were under preventive arrest.

CJP’s Ratna Singh had said the charges include trespass, bond violation and obstruction of a public official’s duty. She said the activists were brought to Parliament Street Police Station at 3 am in a private van. They were not allowed to meet their lawyers till late at night, she said.

Singh alleged that the activists were denied access to lawyers for nearly 24 hours. She also alleged they were not told the grounds for their detention. She said police officers kept insisting they were acting under orders from above.

“Recent arrests are illegal; no information was provided, and none of the alleged offences cited in the charges actually took place,” Singh alleged.

She claimed designated protest sites are being de-notified and peaceful protesters are being held for long periods. “I believe this is merely a tactic to frame people, a way to intimidate them so they do not protest,” she said.

Advocate Abhisht Hela, who represents Das, Ranka and Shinde, said the two were sent to five days of judicial custody “because of the presumption of the Police that they can commit a crime.”

Hela alleged that the police lied in court that the activists had given a call urging people to gather at Jantar Mantar. “They had not given any call. They have not violated the bond,” he said.

He claimed a separate complaint over Connaught Place “has been misused here.”

Also read: Delhi Police files FIR against CJP leaders Ranka, Das after Jantar Mantar breach

The arrests come amid the CJP’s and the Opposition’s ongoing agitation against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the SIR exercise.