A Special Executive Magistrate (SEM) on Wednesday sent Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka to five days’ judicial custody, a day after they and other members of the outfit entered the de-notified protest site at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
Another CJP leader, Ajinkya Shinde, was released on a personal bond.
Advocate Abhisht Hela, who represented the leaders, said Delhi Police told the magistrate that Das and Ranka had called on people to gather at Jantar Mantar, amounting to criminal trespass. Police also argued that the two had violated a bond they signed on Sunday at Delhi Cantonment Police Station, undertaking not to breach the peace.
According to Hela, police further argued that the accused could commit an offence if released. The leaders were produced before the SEM at Mandir Marg Police Station around 8.30 am on Wednesday.
Ranka had shared a video on X showing him, Das and the outfit’s national organisation in-charge, Shinde, climbing over the locked gates of Jantar Mantar and entering the premises before police personnel intervened.
Reacting to the custody order, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke questioned the action against the leaders, saying they had unfurled the national flag at the protest site.
“Ashu and Saurav have been sent to 5 days judicial custody. Their fault? Unfurling tricolour at Jantar Mantar,” Dipke said in a post on X, criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the action.
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