Abhijeet Dipke, affiliated with Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and taken into custody at the residence of NCP-SCP spokesperson Anish Gawande ahead of Friday's "Tiranga" march, was scheduled to appear before the Special Executive Magistrate (SEM) court, with a statement from those close to him confirming the arrest and the scheduled court production.
Ratna Singh, who oversees legal matters at CJP, posted on X in the early hours of Saturday that Dipke's location had not yet been confirmed and that his lawyers had not been able to reach him. The same post indicated he was expected to appear before the court at around noon. Delhi Police had detained Dipke on Friday while he was on his way to take part in the 'Lehra Do Tiranga' yatra, a march that CJP had arranged at Central Park in Connaught Place.
Bar and Bench reported that Dipke was taken into custody under Section 126/170 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, commonly referred to as the BNSS. Under Section 126, a person may be bound over to maintain the peace, while Section 170 grants authorities the power to detain individuals where a cognisable offence appears imminent.
Two notices were served on Abhijeet Dipke by Delhi Police, invoking restrictions under Section 163 of the BNSS alongside a prior undertaking he had given to keep the peace. A news channel reported the development and also carried a police statement indicating that he was being taken into preventive detention. Prohibitory orders under Section 163 are currently active across the Connaught Place area.
A law enforcement officer placed Dipke under detention, stating that he was being held. Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita carries forward the preventive function once housed in CrPC Section 144, providing authorities a legal tool to address public-order disruptions and forestall threats before they materialise. Gatherings of five or more people — whether marches, sit-in protests, pickets, or other collective assemblies — require advance written authorisation under BNSS Section 163 before they can lawfully take place.
Dipke received a formal notice from the New Delhi district, issued under the Delhi Police Act, barring entry to Central Park on the basis of restrictions that Section 163 of the BNSS had put in place — one of two such notices served in total. A follow-up notice from the South-West Delhi district administration referenced an earlier preventive measure under which Dipke, Ashutosh, and Saurav had been held at the airport before a planned October 10 demonstration targeting Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Under the terms set out in the notice, those named were bound to keep the peace for twelve months.
Twenty-four hours after three CJP leaders were taken into custody on 10 October, the organisation's legal representative told reporters that Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das, and Ashutosh Ranka had each been freed by the Executive Magistrate court under a bond requiring them to maintain peace for the next twelve months. A surety bond valued at ₹50,000 was among the conditions put in place, according to Delhi Police.