Is waving national flag a crime: Arvind Kejriwal on CJP leaders' judicial custody

New Delhi: AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday termed police action against Cockroach Janta Party leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka "absolutely ridiculous" and asked whether waving the national flag in one's own country was a crime.

Das and Ranka were sent to five-day judicial custody and sent to Tihar Jail on Wednesday for allegedly violating their peace bonds and trespassing at Jantar Mantar, which was denotified as a protest area, police said.

Their associate Ajinkya Shinde was bound down to maintain peace and good behaviour for six months and released on a personal bond and a surety of Rs 5,000.


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Reacting to the news in a post on X, Kejriwal said, "Is waving our own flag in our own country a crime? This is absolutely ridiculous."

Das, Ranka and Shinde, along with other Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) members, entered Jantar Mantar on Tuesday, defying prohibitory orders. They unfurled the tricolour and raised slogans against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, whose resignation the group has been demanding over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

According to Delhi Police, the CJP leaders and 11 group members reached Jantar Mantar by allegedly trespassing on private premises.

They were detained after allegedly obstructing police personnel from discharging their duties. Two FIRs were registered at Connaught Place and Parliament Street police stations.

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Police said they were bound down in the cases and subsequently arrested under preventive provisions, citing alleged repeated attempts to disturb public peace and instigate others through social media.