Indian youth leader Dipke released after signing ‘peace bond’

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) Founder Abhijeet Dipke walked out of jail on Saturday after a Delhi court ordered his release on the condition he pledges to maintain peace for one year, and pay a 50,000-rupee bond.

He came out of the Mandir Marg police station soon after the hearing before a magistrate.

In his first reaction after that, on X, Dipke quipped: "How it feels walking out of jail after 24 hours with no wifi and phone."

Earlier, Delhi Police had served Dipke a notice prohibiting him from holding a protest march to Connaught Place on Friday as part of ongoing protests against alleged electoral fraud. However, he refused to follow the police directive, leading to his detention and subsequently arrest in a “breach of peace case”.

Wearing a white T-shirt with a photograph of Mahatma Gandhi, Dipke stepped out of the house of Anish Gawande, spokesperson for the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), around 4.50pm on Friday. Five minutes later, he was picked up.

Read More

Abhijeet Dipke detained from plane ahead of CJP's Delhi protest

“I am alone. Why are you stopping me?” he asked. He then took out the Indian national flag and unfurled it before police personnel pushed him into a police van and took him away.

Earlier on Friday, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) had alleged that the whereabouts of its founder Abhijeet Dipke remained unknown after his detention by Delhi Police.

“The Delhi Police has taken Abhijeet Dipke to an undisclosed location. We have lost contact with him. He is not being allowed to talk to lawyers,” the CJP had said in a post on X.

Detentions without specific allegations would not deter people from joining the protests, CJP added.

The CJP also wrote to Delhi Police inquiring about Dipke’s whereabouts.

Besides Dipke, All India Students' Association (AISA) president Neha Bora was another prominent youth leader detained on Friday.

All India Students’ Association (AISA) had said its president Neha Bora had been traced to the RK Puram police station following hours of uncertainty over her location.

“Why is a women student leader being put in a police station at midnight?” AISA wrote in a post on X.

Read More

Dhruv Rathee detained ahead of CJP's Jantar Mantar protest

Separately, CJP leaders Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das are in judicial custody for trespass at Jantar Mantar as the site was denotified as a protest venue last week.

Police said Neha Bora and Abhijeet Dipke were taken into preventive custody ahead of the “Lehra Do Tiranga” protest march at Connaught Place, where the plan was to wave the Tricolour, the national flag, on Friday evening. Smaller marches were held nonetheless by students and others carrying the flag.

Bora was released early Saturday morning, Delhi Police later said.

Neha Bora, after being released, slammed the Delhi Police and the BJP government at the Centre, calling the detentions illegal. She also demanded an end to the controversial Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls, and called for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and for him to be jailed.