‘Waving Tricolour is no crime’: CJP calls for fresh protest after arrests

NEW DELHI: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has called for a national flag-waving protest at Central Park in Connaught Place on Friday, October 16, following the arrest of two of its leaders after a demonstration at Jantar Mantar. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke urged supporters to gather at 5 pm with the national flag, hours after the Delhi Police denotified Jantar Mantar as a protest site. CJP leaders Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka and Ajinkya Shinde had entered the restricted area, waved the Tricolour and raised slogans of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”, prompting police action.

Das and Ranka were produced before a Special Executive Magistrate and remanded to five days of judicial custody, after which they were lodged in Tihar Jail. Shinde was released on a personal bond with a surety of Rs 5,000 and directed to maintain peace and good behaviour for six months. Reacting to the arrests, Dipke said Indians were being jailed for waving their national flag in their own country, drawing a comparison with the colonial era. Several INDIA bloc leaders condemned the action, with Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, saying that peacefully waving the Tricolour was not a crime and describing the jailing of young people for doing so as an act of cowardice. He asserted that Jantar Mantar belonged to the people of India and vowed to reclaim it.

Rahul calls injured NSUI protester ‘our tigress’

The controversy follows a police crackdown on NSUI activists protesting in Connaught Place on Tuesday. Several protesters were detained, and allegations of police assault triggered a further demonstration outside the Connaught Place police station. On Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi met injured protesters and condemned the alleged violence. Among those present was Athira Vijayan, a Malayali law student and NSUI activist, who alleged that women police personnel assaulted her after she was detained, leaving her with injuries, including a split lip and temporary hearing loss in her right ear. Another woman activist alleged that a female constable assaulted her inside a bus and later at the police station. Referring to the woman protester as “our sherni” (our tigress), Rahul praised her courage in the face of the alleged assault.

Police register FIR following ACP's complaint

In a separate development, the Delhi Police have registered an FIR against three women journalists following a complaint by ACP Vivek Bhagat, who alleged that one of them made derogatory caste-related remarks after looking at his nameplate while he was on duty near the Buta Singh roundabout on October 3. The case reportedly includes provisions under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, along with charges relating to obstruction of justice and criminal defamation. The journalists had separately accused Bhagat of sexual harassment or manhandling while covering the protest. Their complaints against the officer were transferred to the Crime Branch for further inquiry, and the competing allegations remain under investigation.