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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday (October 14) met students injured during the CEC-SIR protests and urges them to create evidence when detained, saying it can be used to get justice.

He lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he should not come in the way of protesting students, who are “India’s voice”. “It is one protest, one voice, that of India; that voice is being suppressed,” he alleged.

He also vowed to get everyone who beat up students during the protests punished, from the PM to the police.

Rahul bats for CJP leaders

Earlier in the day, he lashed out at the Modi government after Cockroach Janta Party leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were sent to judicial custody, saying waving the tricolour at Jantar Mantar in a peaceful protest was not a crime and jailing youth for it was an act of cowardice.

Rahul also said Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India and asserted that “we will reclaim it”.

“Students. Youth. Journalists. The INDIA bloc. Different banners, one cause. All protests are one: citizens demanding their constitutional rights,” the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.

Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka sent to Tihar

His remarks came after Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Das and Ranka were sent to five-day judicial custody and lodged in Tihar Jail for allegedly violating their peace bonds and trespassing into Jantar Mantar, which has been denotified as a protest area, police said.

Their associate Ajinkya Shinde was bound down to maintain peace and good behaviour for six months and released on a personal bond and a surety of Rs 5,000.

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke alleged that PM Modi was imposing an “unofficial Emergency” in the country. Talking to reporters in Nagpur, Dipke sought to know what offence Das and Ranka had committed by waving the tricolour at Jantar Mantar.

'Unofficial Emergency'

“Waving the tricolour has become the worst sin in this country, such that people are sent to judicial custody for five days for it. So I want to say to Narendra Modi, don’t be such a big coward; show some courage. If you want to impose Emergency, then do it officially if you have the guts,” he added.

Dipke thanked Rahul Gandhi and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal for speaking up for Das and Ranka.