India released protest leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka from Delhi’s Tihar jail on October 21 after a week in custody. They gave a written undertaking against calling further protests at Jantar Mantar while the venue remains closed to demonstrations. Their youth movement challenges electoral-roll revisions, which the Election Commission defends as an accuracy exercise.
Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, leaders of India’s youth protest movement Cockroach Janta Party, left Tihar jail in Delhi on October 21 after a week in custody. A special executive magistrate ordered their release. They gave a written undertaking not to call further protests at Jantar Mantar, a Delhi protest venue, while it remained closed to demonstrations.[1], [2]
The activists had crossed barricades and climbed the locked gate at Jantar Mantar, which had recently lost its status as a designated protest site. Both denied wrongdoing. Their movement, known as CJP, operates as a youth collective rather than a registered party. It emerged in May and initially organized demonstrations against leaked examination papers before expanding its protest activity.[1]
CJP now calls for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation. It alleges that revisions of electoral rolls favor Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party. The party and Election Commission deny political manipulation. The commission says it is removing duplicate entries, people who have died and ineligible voters. Critics warn that eligible citizens could also lose their place on the lists and access to voting.[1]
