New Delhi: Opposition leaders on Wednesday condemned the remand of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka in five days' judicial custody for entering Jantar Mantar, with several leaders accusing the government of curtailing the right to protest and demanding their immediate release.
The arrests came after the Union home ministry's decision to de-notify Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site, amid a series of demonstrations by the CJP and other organisations demanding Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar's resignation over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll.
CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said Das and Ranka, along with their associate Ajinkya Shinde, had entered Jantar Mantar in a symbolic protest against the de-notification order and were detained before being remanded in judicial custody on charges of criminal trespass and disobedience of orders.
Calling the action a punishment for protesting against the decision, Bhattacharya said the government is afraid of protests and disdainful of the Constitution.
"Jantar Mantar belongs to the people and the whole world knows it as Delhi's most common protest site," he said in a post on social media, claiming that the de-notification and the subsequent action against the activists were linked to the government's apprehension about protests.
Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary D Raja described the detention and judicial custody of Das and Ranka as undemocratic, saying their remand for allegedly trespassing at a place that was a designated protest site until recently amounts to harassment.
"Afraid of popular anger, the government wants to curtail protests and silence dissent. Since when did protesting against an undemocratic order become a crime?" the Left leader asked in a post on X, demanding the immediate release of the two.
He said the de-notification of Jantar Mantar would be challenged politically and legally, adding that the All India Students' Federation (AISF) and the All India Youth Federation (AIYF) had marched to reclaim the protest site and would intensify their struggle to restore the right to agitate there.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha also condemned the action, questioning the charge against the activists.
"What is the charge? That he made it to Jantar Mantar? This is an unbelievable government, honestly. It is deeply unfortunate," Jha told PTI.
He said Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India and urged authorities to respect the right to protest.
"Every person expressing their pain through protest is united. To those making these decisions, Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India. The right to protest is their right. Engage with them with compassion. Do not take that right away. The people know how to take back what is theirs," he said.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra said entering Jantar Mantar to protest cannot be treated as a criminal act.
"This cannot be a criminal act. If the Supreme Court is still quiet then it is complicit in the murder of our Constitution. Simple," she said in a post on X.
Das and Ranka were produced before a special executive magistrate on Wednesday and remanded in five days of judicial custody before being lodged in Tihar Jail, the Delhi Police said. 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.
Police said the three activists and 11 other CJP members entered the Jantar Mantar area on Tuesday by trespassing through private premises and allegedly obstructed police personnel from discharging their duties. The protesters were detained and cases registered against them, they added.
Das and Ranka had earlier signed bonds to maintain peace for a year after being detained on Saturday, police sources said.
The CJP leaders had unfurled the national flag at Jantar Mantar and shouted slogans, including "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" and "Jai Bhim".