UN calls for immediate, unconditional release of all 'arbitrarily detained' in Delhi protests

The United Nations called for immediate and unconditional release of all 'arbitrarily detained' in Delhi protests on Saturday.

The international peacemaking body expressed concern on reports of mass detentions of demonstrators, protest leaders, members of civil society organisations, lawyers and journalists, before and during today’s large-scale demonstrations in the national capital.

We call on the authorities to ensure that the right to peaceful assembly is fully respected and fulfilled, it said.


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Protests led by Opposition parties and Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) were marked by security clampdown and the detention of over 7,000 protesters in Delhi, including CJP leader Abhijit Dipke, four former chief ministers and YouTuber Dhruv Rathee.

The protestors pressed for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and withdrawal of SIR of electoral rolls.

Several INDIA bloc leaders, including former chief ministers Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee, Pinarayi Vijayan and Manik Sarkar, were detained from multiple locations across the capital as they tried to join the protest called by the CJP against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta asserted that the capital will not be held hostage and accused Opposition leaders Gandhi and Kejriwal of trying to turn the city into a "battleground", in league with their "B-Team" CJP.

Several journalists claimed detention as reporters alleged that they were detained despite displaying their press identity cards, and that their official phones were seized by police personnel before they were taken to detention buses along with other protesters.

Visuals circulating on social media showed journalists displaying their press identity cards from inside the buses.