Delhi Police placed Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janta Party, in preventive custody on Friday — the second consecutive day on which officers had detained him. The previous day's detention had occurred in the lead-up to the party's planned "Lehra Do Tiranga" gathering at Connaught Place.
Neha Bora, who holds the national presidency of the All India Students' Association, was released once the procedural requirements under Section 65 of the Delhi Police Act had been met. Charges were filed against Dipke under Sections 126 and 170 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, the legal code governing citizen protections and security procedures. A court date before a Special Executive Magistrate has been set for him on October 17.
Two formal notices had been issued to Dipke, each instructing him to stay away from Central Park in Connaught Place ahead of the planned demonstration. Officers stated that when directed to comply with those instructions, he did not do so, and that further action was taken as a result. As part of the conditions set by police, the CJP founder submitted a surety of Rs 50,000 and was bound by a court order to refrain from any conduct that might breach public order over the following twelve months.
Upon her release, Bora spoke out against the practice of holding protest participants in custody, raising questions about whether overnight detention of those individuals was lawful. In remarks to members of the press, Bora contended that people going about their daily lives were being subjected to treatment more appropriate for those accused of crimes. She described a pattern in which participants in public demonstrations were taken into custody during daytime or evening hours and held until the following morning or beyond, a practice she argued lacked any clear legal justification.
Bora stated that access to legal counsel had been withheld by police for a number of hours following her arrest. She said that officers requested her name, home address, and related identifying information, yet at the outset she was not given the opportunity to consult with a lawyer. Her account described a window of five to six hours during which legal counsel made repeated attempts to reach her before any meeting was authorised.
Bora also contended that the law required women to be freed once the sun had set, and pressed for an explanation as to why those provisions were not being observed by the authorities. At a press appearance, Bora put forward two positions held by the party: that Gyanesh Kumar should be removed from his post as Chief Election Commissioner, and that the Special Intensive Revision exercise known as SIR ought to be called off.
Denying that the protests had produced any disorder, Bora contended that road closures and barriers across central Delhi were the source of inconvenience for residents. She called for the removal of Gyanesh Kumar from office alongside a halt to the Special Intensive Revision process, framing both demands as necessary to safeguard voters' rights.
Rallies against the SIR exercise have been coordinated by the CJP, which has also called for the Chief Election Commissioner to step down. According to the party, Dipke was being held at a location it did not name, with his legal representatives unable to reach him. In a post on X, the party noted that Dipke had been held in detention for upwards of ten hours, yet neither his family, his legal representatives, nor colleagues from his party had been told where he was being kept.
Those arrests came after two other CJP members — Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka — had already been taken into custody. Police took both individuals into custody following their reported entry into Jantar Mantar, a site that authorities had removed from its official status as a designated protest ground. The planned rally under the "Lehra Do Tiranga" banner at Connaught Place formed one part of the party's broader campaign against the SIR exercise, alongside its call for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to step down.