Police detain leaders of India’s ‘cockroach’ movement at New Delhi protest

Police in the Indian capital have detained leaders of the country’s youth-led “cockroach” movement after they jumped barricades to enter a popular protest site in New Delhi while calling for the resignation of the country’s chief election commissioner (CEC) over voter list revisions.

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Ashutosh Ranka, Saurav Das and Ajinkya Shinde were among about 20 volunteers who “sneaked” into Jantar Mantar to “reclaim” the popular protest site and were detained on Tuesday.

CJP supporters and opposition parties have held protests nearly every day this month to demand CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s ⁠resignation over the revisions, which critics say favour Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Thousands joined a protest march on Monday , after a clampdown ‌foiled CJP plans for a weekend demonstration. Earlier, police detained thousands of protesters, including CJP leaders, over the weekend.

Following the mass detentions, Human Rights Watch urged the government to stop “the ill-treatment” and “arbitrary” arrests of protesters and to allow people to protest peacefully.

“The Modi government should stop throwing young protesters in jail and instead engage with them to address concerns over the right to vote and fairness of elections,” Elaine Pearson, HRW’s Asia director, said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Peaceful protest and freedom of expression are fundamental rights protected under the international human rights law that India’s leaders claim to uphold,” she added.

The Delhi Police announced on Monday that the Jantar Mantar open-air astronomical observatory was no longer designated an official protest site and that three new venues had been identified for demonstrations.

However, CJP leaders and supporters went ahead with their protest plan at Jantar Mantar and were taken into custody.

“You cannot denotify the resistance,” CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said ⁠on X after their detention.

A video posted to his account ⁠shows about a dozen volunteers jumping a gate and barricades to reach the site, where they waved the Indian flag and chanted slogans as police arrived and detained them.

The Delhi Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Reuters news agency.

In an earlier post, Dipke said the government’s efforts to block the site would do nothing to deter their campaign.

“If Modi thinks taking away Jantar Mantar will put an end to protests, he is mistaken. Jantar Mantar is not just a location but a spirit of resistance that nobody can ever take away,” he said.

The youth-led movement, which has mobilised ⁠protests in recent months over a range of issues, is among the biggest political challenges to the BJP and Modi in his 12 ⁠years in power.

The Election Commission has denied favouring any party with its revisions to the voter list and said wrongly deleted voters can re-enrol.