India voter roll protests: ‘Cockroach’ movement leaders released from jail
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India’s Cockroach Janta Party leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka speak to the media upon their release after more than a week in police custody, in New Delhi on Oct 21.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Cockroach Janta Party leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were released from Tihar Jail after more than a week in custody over protests against voter roll changes.
- They were detained for crossing barricades at Jantar Mantar, and both vowed to keep pressing for chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign.
- The case has fuelled wider protests over India’s electoral rolls, with more rallies planned as legal action continues and the Election Commission denies wrongdoing.
AI generated
NEW DELHI – Two leaders of India’s Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) walked out of a New Delhi prison late on Oct 21 after more than a week in police custody, as the authorities intensify restrictions on protests against a contentious overhaul of the country’s voter rolls.
Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were held in Tihar Jail, one of India’s largest and most notorious prison complexes, for allegedly violating peace bonds and trespassing at Jantar Mantar, a historic protest site recently stripped of its designated status.
A special executive magistrate ordered their release after accepting sureties on their behalf. The two also pledged not to call further demonstrations at the site.
Hours after leaving Tihar, Das and Ranka appeared in a video holding the Indian flag and again demanded the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, signalling that their release has not ended the broader campaign over the voter-roll overhaul.
Ranka and Das were detained on Oct 13 after crossing barricades at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, where they unfurled the Indian flag and demanded Kumar’s resignation.
“There were delays, but today, finally, these boys are out,” Ratna Singh, CJP’s head of legal affairs, told journalists on the night of Oct 21. “Now that they’re out, we’re all happy about it, we welcome the decision.”
Their detention had become one focus of a broader confrontation between the authorities and a protest movement that has drawn opposition parties and student unions onto the streets over changes to India’s electoral rolls.
The dispute has also raised questions over the government’s response to dissent, after thousands of demonstrators were detained and parts of the capital were effectively locked down in October.
Despite their release, legal troubles for Ranka and Das are not over.
The inquiry into their conduct is continuing, with the pair due back before the magistrate on Oct 23, while two separate criminal cases against them are being investigated by the Delhi Police Crime Branch.
The furor was stoked by an Indian Express investigation in September that found Kumar’s two fellow commissioners repeatedly objected to aspects of a sweeping update of India’s electoral rolls that removed millions from draft voter lists. The poll body has denied any wrongdoing.
The protests have eased for now, but the pressure may soon return to the streets.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, a coalition of farmers’ groups, has called for nationwide protests on Oct 23, while the opposition Congress party has permission to hold a Delhi rally on Nov 1, according to the Press Trust of India.
The unrest comes as India’s strong growth story faces pressure from a weak rupee, foreign investment outflows and rising inflation.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not publicly commented on the protests, though senior members of his Bharatiya Janata Party have defended the Election Commission. BLOOMBERG