Key Takeaways
- Three 'cockroach' movement leaders released by court.
- Detention aimed to prevent protest against election commissioner.
- Protesters demand resignation of ECI head over voter roll revision.
Three leaders of India’s youth-led online 'cockroach' movement were released on Sunday by an executive magistrate’s court, their lawyer said.
Abhijeet Dipke and two other Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders were detained before they could disembark from their flight after arriving in New Delhi from Mumbai, according to their lawyer Ratna Singh.
The detention was part of a broader security operation by authorities to prevent a planned protest against the Election Commissioner of India (ECI).
On Saturday, thousands of protesters were detained to prevent them from gathering at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar protest site, the CJP and Indian media reports stated.
The protest was organized to demand the resignation of the ECI head over allegations of misconduct during a nationwide voter roll revision, which resulted in the removal of more than 133 million names from electoral lists.
Election authorities claim the exercise was aimed at eliminating duplicate, deceased, and fraudulent entries, while critics argue it disproportionately affected minorities, particularly Muslims.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party is seen as benefiting from the process.
The ECI has rejected allegations of wrongdoing.
Opposition leaders and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights criticized the government’s actions, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of those arbitrarily detained.
Both the CJP and opposition leader Rahul Gandhi vowed to continue with protests despite the crackdown, with Gandhi stating that the more the government cracks down, the more the anger of Gen Z and students will grow.
