India activists demand release of detained ‘cockroach’ protesters
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Cockroach Janta Party supporters chanting slogans as they celebrate the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test examination paper leaks in Mumbai, India, on July 26.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- The youth-led Cockroach Janta Party demands the release of detained protesters after rallies against exam paper leaks and irregularities in India.
- Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned amid widespread protests and calls for exam system reforms.
- Violent clashes occurred during demonstrations in New Delhi, leading to police action and parliamentary disruptions, while the government proposed tougher laws on exam paper leaks.
AI generated
NEW DELHI – India’s youth-led “cockroach” movement, whose protests have forced the education minister’s resignation, urged the authorities on July 27 to release all demonstrators detained in weeks of rallies nationwide.
The online Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which organised protests over exam paper leaks and other irregularities, said they had received reports of students held in detention, particularly in the states of Assam, West Bengal and Bihar.
“Any failure to release those detained or withdraw criminal cases would amount to a breach of public trust,” the protest group said in a statement, adding that they would take “further necessary steps” if their demand is not met.
The statement comes two days after Dharmendra Pradhan resigned as education minister over repeated failures in the conduct of competitive exams that have fuelled anger among millions of young Indians.
The CJP accused the government of backtracking after the authorities had assured them that no punitive action would be taken against protesters.
The movement has won millions of followers on social media since it was launched in May by Abhijeet Dipke, a 30-year-old public relations graduate.
Tens of thousands of protesters, mainly students, rallied last week in New Delhi and other cities, demanding Pradhan’s resignation and broader reforms of the exam system.
Demonstrations in the Indian capital turned violent on July 20 when a crowd attempted to march towards Parliament from the Jantar Mantar protest site.
The police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse the protest, triggering clashes and a wave of detentions.
In the eastern state of Bihar, a police official was suspended for using an assault rifle to disperse student protesters in Siwan district on July 25.
“He has been suspended, and the three people injured in the incident are undergoing treatment,” police superintendent Puran Kumar Jha told AFP on July 27.
The Chief Justice of India called for an independent investigation after a petition was filed in the Supreme Court alleging police brutality.
The “right to peaceful, lawful protest is absolutely guaranteed” under the Indian constitution,” local media reports quoted Surya Kant as saying.
“If there is excess committed, it should be independently examined... discipline is integral to democratic process.”
The issue also reverberated in Parliament on July 27, with repeated disruptions as opposition lawmakers demanded a response from the government over last week’s police crackdown.
“It is one of the gravest assaults on democracy in our history,” opposition Congress party chief Mallikarjun Kharge said on X.
“Never before have students been beaten, dragged, and treated like criminals for raising their voices.”
Despite the disruptions, the government introduced legislation in the Lower House seeking tougher penalties for exam paper leaks. AFP
