Delhi protests LIVE | Over 7,000 detained; CJP: Will march to Jantar Mantar again on Sunday

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Cops detain around 200 people for protesting at Mumbai's August Kranti Maidan in support of CJP stir

Police detained around 200 people, including members of activist Tushar Gandhi-led organisation and supporters of the CPI (M), for protesting at the August Kranti Maidan in Mumbai in solidarity with the Cockroach Janata Party's demonstration in New Delhi, officials said.

In a separate action, several workers of the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) were detained while demonstrating near Hutatma Chowk in south Mumbai to back the CJP, they said.

Hundreds of people, including those belonging to Tushar Gandhi-led 'Hum Bharat Ke Log' organisation, and activists of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) assembled at the August Kranti Maidan in south Mumbai without permission and around 200 of them were detained for protesting, an official said.

The process of registering an FIR against them was underway, he said.

One of the protesters, Rubaid Bhojani, alleged that the police took the protesters into custody "very brutally".

"We voted for the Prime Minister, but he betrayed us. We demand Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar's resignation," Bhojani said.

Earlier in the day, Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, was picked up from Bandra and taken to D N Nagar police station. A large number of people gathered outside the police station. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray also visited the police station.

Gandhi, who heads the organisation 'Hum Bharat Ke Log', had shared a poster in a post on X, urging citizens to join a protest gathering at August Kranti Maidan at 3.30 pm.

A game of hide-and-seek: Protesters duck into washrooms, gurdwara amid capital-wide clampdown

They hid in public washrooms, took shelter overnight in a gurdwara and slipped in and out of its gates as police closed in, turning the crackdown during the CJP protest in Delhi into a elaborate game of hide-and-seek.

As thousands of police and paramilitary personnel fanned out across the capital on Saturday, protesters demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the rollback of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) scrambled to evade detention, using public spaces and places of worship to lie low.

One of the most unusual scenes unfolded at an NDMC washroom in Connaught Place, where more than 20 young protesters had hidden overnight, hoping to sneak through the extensive security arrangements ahead of the march to Jantar Mantar.

The group had gradually gathered through the night after restrictions were announced across the city on Friday. The washrooms, which are locked at 10 pm and reopened at 6 am, offered a temporary hiding place until the morning police checks thwarted their plan.

During an inspection, police found the protesters inside the washroom. Some had allegedly forced open the door to get in. The protesters were rounded up and bundled into detention vehicles.

Most had their faces covered. Even after being detained, they continued raising slogans and banging against interiors of the police vehicles, their voices carrying through the netted windows that shielded those inside from public view.

The episode at Connaught Place was one of several scenes across central Delhi in which protesters tried to stay out of police custody, only to return to the streets as soon as they saw an opportunity.

At Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, young protesters who had taken shelter overnight repeatedly emerged from the premises to join demonstrations before retreating inside as police personnel pursued them. The cycle continued as the two sides moved back and forth around the gurdwara, with protesters attempting to evade detention.

Slogans of "Inquilab Zindabad" and "Jai Bhim" rang out in the lane outside the gurdwara as a large group of protesters poured onto the street. Within minutes, police detained several of them.

The gurdwara had offered refuge to student protesters earlier in July, when they were demanding resignation of erstwhile Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. This time, protesters took shelter there after citywide restrictions were announced on Friday, preparing to join Saturday's demonstration.

The police had also approached representatives of Bangla Sahib and asked them not to allow protesters into the premises, according to those familiar with the exchanges. The gurdwara representatives refused, saying the protesters were unarmed and were not raising slogans inside.

"We won't let police enter the premises. Protesters are unarmed and not raising slogans inside the premises, so we are not against them," a representative said.

The presence of police personnel carrying lathis near the place of worship and the detention of young protesters drew criticism from some visitors, who called the action shameful and questioned the decision to pursue demonstrators in the vicinity of a religious site.

The protesters' attempts to find refuge were not confined to the gurdwara. Several youth organisations and student groups marched from Baba Kharak Singh Road towards Ashoka Road, with police personnel moving in to detain them. Some protesters ran into the gurdwara premises as officers approached, seeking shelter before attempting to return to the demonstration.

At Kerala House, several CPI(M) leaders, including former chief ministers of different states, had been staying since Friday night. They were detained on Saturday when they stepped out to join the protest.

The scenes played out against an unprecedented security deployment around the planned demonstration, called by the CJP and other Left organisations to demand Kumar's resignation over alleged irregularities in the SIR exercise.

More than 30,000 police and paramilitary personnel were deployed across the capital, while 45 metro stations were closed and traffic restrictions imposed on 30 road stretches around Jantar Mantar. Police pickets dotted the city, with identity checks and vehicle inspections carried out at border points, railway stations, bus terminals, hotels and other sensitive locations.

Steel spikes were also placed on some roads to prevent vehicles from forcing their way through checkpoints without inspection.

Yet, despite the barricades, checks and heavy deployment, protesters continued to find ways to assemble, disappear into places of refuge and emerge again to join the demonstrations -- turning a day of tight security into a running contest between those trying to exercise their right to protest and the police attempting to detain them. PTI

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Delhi Police on Dipke's grandmother's death: 'Offered possible facilitation for his journey to his hometown"

The Delhi Police has informed CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke about the death of his grandmother in Maharashtra and offered possible facilitation for his journey to his hometown on humanitarian grounds, an official statement said on Saturday.

Dipke's paternal grandmother, Savitribai Shankarrao Dipke, 85, died at her home in Santuk Pimpri village in Maharashtra's Hingoli district around 11.30 am on Saturday following a prolonged illness, family sources said.

Her last rites will be performed at 10 am on Sunday, they said.

Dipke, along with Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, was detained by the Delhi Police at the airport upon their arrival from Mumbai for the proposed protest at Jantar Mantar against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The Delhi Police, in its statement, said, "Abhijeet Dipke was detained in view of a protest call given by Cockroach Janta Party at Jantar Mantar, which was not permitted. During the day, an unfortunate information was received regarding the death of the grandmother of Abhijeet Dipke.

"The information was immediately shared with him with due sensitivity and the known time of the funeral was intimated to him. He was also offered possible facilitation for his journey to his hometown on humanitarian grounds."

The CJP said that the three leaders were detained from inside the aircraft soon after it landed in the national capital.

A cousin of Dipke said the family had initially been unable to contact him because he was detained in Delhi. His parents had been informed and were on their way to the village, the cousin said.

Dipke had met his grandmother on August 15, when he launched the 'School Thik Karo' campaign in Hingoli district, and had met her once more after that, family sources said. He had not been able to see her in the last 20-25 days, they added.

Meanwhile, police detained nearly 1000 people on Saturday as protesters attempted to reach Jantar Mantar despite heavy security deployment across the New Delhi district. The demonstration was called to press for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, but police had denied permission and imposed prohibitory orders in the area.

Delhi Police detain more than 3,000 protesters

Delhi Police on Saturday detained more than 3,000 protesters, who were trying to reach Jantar Mantar for the proposed CJP stir against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

A PTI report citing sources said the protesters were detained across the New Delhi area and other districts, where police are using drones to monitor movement of people attempting to reach the protest site.

The protesters were detained from several places, including near Regal Cinema, Minto Bridge and near Akashwani Bhawan.

Student protesters detained while attempting to march towards EC office in Bengaluru

Members of student organisations were detained on Saturday when they attempted to march towards the Election Commission office here, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the SIR of electoral rolls.

The protesters gathered at Freedom Park in Bengaluru and raised slogans demanding the scrapping of the SIR process amid heavy security arrangements. They were allegedly detained shortly after attempting to march towards the EC office.

According to organisers, the demonstration was jointly organised by several student organisations, including the All India Students' Association (AISA), Students' Federation of India (SFI), All India Democratic Students' Organisation (AIDSO) and All India Students' Federation (AISF).

In a statement issued on Saturday, AISA Karnataka strongly condemned the police action, claiming that the detentions raised serious concerns about their legality and amounted to the "blatant suppression" of the democratic right to protest.

Heavy police deployment was witnessed at the protest site in Freedom Park, with hundreds of personnel deployed and roads barricaded on both sides to prevent protesters from reaching the EC office, which is barely a few hundred metres away, it alleged.

It further alleged that protesters were taken into custody when they attempted to bypass the barricades.

"We demand that the Congress government in Karnataka immediately stop the detentions, release those detained, remove the barricades and allow the protest to proceed peacefully. The government must also open up all the spaces within Freedom Park that have remained barricaded for the past half a decade and ensure that citizens can exercise their democratic rights without intimidation or obstruction," it said.

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Watch: Unprecedented security in Delhi

In this AI With Sanket episode, Sanket Upadhyay reports from the ground on the Delhi Police deployment.