Delhi protest highlights: Dhruv Rathee, CJP leaders in detention, others released; Delhi curbs eased

Gyanesh Kumar row LIVE: Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Saturday expressed concern over the detention of youths in Delhi, saying the right to protest is fundamental to democracy. He said the government should listen to people's concerns rather than suppress their voices.

"The right to protest is a primary tool in a democracy. The youths should have been granted permission to protest at Ramlila Maidan. There is no point in trying to suppress their voices, as it can never be silenced," Sukhu said.

He added that Congress is also pursuing a legal battle over the issue and will approach the Supreme Court again on Monday. Sukhu said he would join the effort.

(Inputs from PTI)

Delhi protest LIVE: Former Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee called the situation in Delhi “bigger than Emergency” as she staged a dharna at a bus stand on South Avenue in solidarity with the detained youth and against CEC Gyanesh Kumar, she told reporters before being detained.

“So many leaders are also detained. Nobody is allowed to go inside the Jantar Mantar. We will not be allowed to go either. So it is better to express our solidarity towards today's generation, our youth generation,” she said.

Delhi protest LIVE: Congress chief and Rajya Sabha LoP Mallikarjun Kharge has slammed the Centre over a series of detentions today ahead of the proposed protest by CJP at Jantar Mantar, vowing that the party will fight the "tyrannical regime tooth and nail".

In a post on X, he wrote, “Modi Govt has turned the ‘Mother of Democracy’ into a ‘Muzzled Democracy’! The cowardice of the BJP-RSS is on full display today. Detentions, arrests, jails, lathis and pellets cannot deter the people of India. Since the days of our Freedom struggle, the youth have been at the forefront of shaping the nation’s destiny.”

“The Congress Party, along with the united Opposition, will fight this tyrannical regime, tooth and nail. We shed our blood to win India’s freedom. We will continue to fight, with every ounce of our strength, to defend our Democracy, our Constitution and the fundamental rights of every Indian,” he added.

CJP Jantar Mantar protest LIVE: DMK MP Kanimozhi has condemned the detention of CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke ahead of the proposed protest at Jantar Mantar.

“If dissent is not welcome, what is left of democracy? All detainees, including Abhijeet Dipke, must be released immediately. Democracy will not be silenced by autocracy,” she wrote on X.

Gyanesh Kumar row LIVE: Former Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and 5 TMC MPs are being taken to an unknown location by Delhi Police in a prisoner van, the party said.

“They have been driving us around in a ‘prison van’ for the last 30 mins,” a member of the delegation said.

The MPs accompanying Banerjee include Derek O’Brien, Dola Sen, Pratima Mondal, Samirul Islam and Saket Gokhale.

CJP Jantar Mantar protest LIVE: “Jantar Mantar's story is not India's story. What is happening at Jantar Mantar, what you can see on TV and a few social media handles, is not India's story. India is calm and going ahead under good governance. We have been seeing that a few anarchist forces have been spreading anarchy in a corner of Delhi for the past few days. But today the anarchists have failed. The flop show of anarchist elements has completely collapsed. There was an attempt to hold India, the national capital, captive; that there be arson here, that there be violence here. But today, 'loktantra' has triumphed over ‘bheedtantra’”, said BJP spokesperon Sambit Patra.

Gyanesh Kumar row LIVE: Former Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has been detained by Delhi Police. She was sitting on a dharna against CEC Gyanesh Kumar on the road near the South Avenue bus stand in the national capital.

HT had earlier reported that Mamata said she might join the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) protest at Jantar Mantar seeking the removal of CEC Gyanesh Kumar.

CJP Jantar Mantar protest LIVE: Ratna Singh, legal affairs head of the Cockroach Janata Party, has approached the Saket court seeking the registration of an FIR over her detention by Delhi Police in Jangpura on Saturday morning. She was detained before she could join a protest today.

The handwritten application has been filed before Judicial Magistrate Abhinav Pandey and is likely to be heard today.

(Inputs from Arnabjit Sur)

Gyanesh Kumar row LIVE: Former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has been stopped from moving from South Avenue, her TMC party said. She is sitting on a dharna on the road near the South Avenue bus stand in the national capital against CEC Gyanesh Kumar.

Gyanesh Kumar row LIVE:All India Students' Association (AISA) national president Neha Bora has been detained and is in a police bus that has now been surrounded by protesters.

This comes after AISA announced in a post on X that the venue for the planned protest against CEC Gyanesh Kumar and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls had been shifted from Jantar Mantar to Dilli Haat, as police maintained a tight security presence in New Delhi.

(Inputs from Somya Lakhani)

CJP Jantar Mantar protest LIVE: AAP leader Manish Sisodia has been detained by police in Chandigarh, the party alleged in a post on X, attaching visuals of the incident.

“PM Modi and HM Amit Shah cannot suppress the voice of dissent. Vote Chor Gyanesh Kumar, your time is over. It’s done, bro!” the party wrote.

CJP protest LIVE: NCP-SCP MP Supriya Sule condemned the detentions of CJP leaders, saying that they were going peacefully and that the manner in which police detained them was “incorrect and unconstitutional”.

“I fear—is this an undeclared emergency? We all lived through the Emergency in this country... Today we see that we cannot even step outside. I am worried about the children... In a democracy, if children want to move about or express themselves, what is wrong with that?” she told reporters.

CJP Jantar Mantar protest LIVE: The detained CJP leaders were taken to an undisclosed location. An official confirmation is awaited.

Notably, Gurugram Police have officially denied that Abhijeet Dipke was brought there.

(Inputs from Karn Pratap Singh and Debashish Karmakar)

CJP Jantar Mantar protest LIVE: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has criticised the restrictions imposed in central Delhi ahead of the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) protest at Jantar Mantar.

With Delhi Police detaining CJP leaders and protesters across the Capital, Tharoor said a "confident government" should be open to questions. He warned that turning Delhi into a fortress would only fuel further doubts.

"A government confident in the fairness of its elections would welcome questions about them, whereas one that turns its capital into a fortress to avoid them only deepens the very suspicions it seeks to suppress," he wrote on X.

"The government should provide answers, not lathis; expression, not repression. Barricades will do nothing to restore faith in the Election Commission, and the sooner it answers the public's questions, the sooner calm will be restored," he added.

CJP leaders detained LIVE: CJP’s organisation in-charge Ajinkya Shinde will lead the protest at Jantar Mantar for as long as Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka remain in detention, Dipke said in a pre-recorded message.

Dipke had recorded a video last night in anticipation of a possible arrest, the CJP said on X.

CJP Jantar Mantar protest LIVE: At Delhi airport, NCP (SP) spokesperson Anish Gawande said the protest plans would be revealed soonand added that young people were making their way to Jantar Mantar.

“We hope that the Police will not use excessive violence or force. We hope that the Police will treat young people of this country as equal citizens, rather than criminals who deserve to be punished,” he told reporters.

Speaking about the detention of CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, Gawande said all three detained leaders were on the same flight as him. He alleged that police officers boarded the aircraft and took Dipke away, causing inconvenience to other passengers.

We do not even know whether he (Dipke) has been brought out of the airport or is still there," he added.

CJP leaders detained LIVE: Heavy traffic congestion was reported across parts of central Delhi on Saturday as security was tightened.

Security checks along key roads leading to the protest site slowed vehicle movement and caused long queues.

Barricades and increased surveillance further compounded the traffic snarls, leaving vehicles stuck bumper-to-bumper across central Delhi.

(Inputs from ANI)

CJP Jantar Mantar protest LIVE: Activist Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, has been detained by Mumbai Police. He was scheduled to join a protest in support of the CJP at Mumbai's August Kranti Maidan.

(Inputs from Vinay Dalvi)

CJP leaders detained LIVE: TMC MP Mahua Moitra reacted to the detention of CJP leaders at the Delhi airport and called the move “coward”.

“Chors. Cowards. Bullies. Entered aircraft to detain Team CJP. This is our Emergency, India,” she wrote on X.

CJP leaders detained LIVE: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday accused the Delhi Police of placing party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal's residence under heavy security.

Kejriwal had said on Friday that he and his family would join the planned CJP demonstration. However, authorities have detained Dipke, along with other CJP leaders, at the Delhi airport.

CJP protest LIVE: AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal slammed the Centre over the detention of CJP leaders, including Abhijeet Dipke, calling the situation “worse than the Emergency".

“It’s official.. we are living under an absolute dictatorship ruled by Modi. Arresting cockroaches straight off their flight shows an unprecedented level of fear,” he wrote on X.

“PM Modi clearly knows he only won the election through vote chori and now he is hell-bent on protecting his fraud by completely crushing democracy. Gyanesh must go, but so must Modi,” he added.

CJP Jantar Mantar protest LIVE: Police have also detained more than 60 people from Bangla Sahib Gurdwara, where the protesters had taken shelter overnight. Police personnel waited outside the gurdwara and detained them when they came out in the morning.

(Inputs from Karn Pratap Singh)

CJP protest LIVE: In visuals shared by CJP from inside the flight where Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained, the leaders can be heard shouting “Bharat Mata ki Jai” slogans.

CJP Jantar Mantar protest LIVE: Former Keralam CM Pinarayi Vijayan, among other CPI(M) leaders, including CPI(M) General Secretary MA Baby, MV Govindan Master, A Vijayaraghavan, KK Shailaja, John Brittas, KN Balagopal, Brinda Karat, were taken into custody by Delhi Police upon arriving at Jantar Mantar to participate in the protest, the party claimed.

CJP protest LIVE: A senior police officer confirmed that CJP leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka have been detained. Teams from the southwest district police were deployed at the Delhi airport to detain them.

Protesters and independent media persons have also been detained near Jantar Mantar. A police van was seen packed with protesters, while paramilitary personnel blocked all routes around the barricades.

(Inputs from Karn Pratap Singh)