Delhi Police file over 20 FIRs over SIR protests
What's the story
The Delhi Police has registered over 20 cases in connection with attempts to hold protests against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise on Saturday. The cases were registered for "taking the law into one's hands," obstructing government work, and assaulting police personnel. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) had called for a protest at Jantar Mantar demanding the rollback of SIR and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation.
Protest suppression
CJP founder, members detained at Delhi airport
The police launched a major crackdown on the planned protest, detaining thousands of protesters and suspending internet and metro services in parts of Delhi.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and members Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das were detained from their flight upon arrival at Indira Gandhi International Airport.
They were released on Sunday after being produced before an Executive Magistrate at Delhi Cantonment.
High-profile detentions
Former chief ministers among those detained
Among those detained were four former chief ministers: Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party, Trinamool Congress founder Mamata Banerjee, and Pinarayi Vijayan and Manik Sarkar from CPI(M).
YouTuber Dhruv Rathee was also detained ahead of the planned protest but released at 3:00am on Sunday.
The detentions were part of a widespread police clampdown on the proposed agitation.
Legal confirmation
Detained leaders were released after magistrate's order
Ratna Singh, head of the CJP's legal team, confirmed the release of the detained leaders in a post on X.
"Executive Magistrate court releases Abhijeet, Saurav and Ashutosh," she wrote.
The police crackdown came as part of mass detentions and internet suspension in parts of Delhi over attempts to hold protests against SIR exercise.