Police arrest leaders of India’s ‘cockroach’ movement during protest in New Delhi | Election news

Cockroach Janta Party volunteers arrested after entering popular protest site that authorities had declared off-limits.

Police in the Indian capital have arrested leaders of the youth-led “cockroaches” movement after they jumped barricades to enter a popular protest site in New Delhi, while calling for the resignation of the country’s chief election commissioner (CEC) over revisions to voter rolls.

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Ashutosh Ranka, Saurav Das and Ajinkya Shinde were among around 20 volunteers who “sneaked” into Jantar Mantar to “reclaim” the popular protest site and were arrested on Tuesday.

CJP supporters and opposition parties have staged protests almost every day this month demanding the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar over the revisions, which critics say favor Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Thousands of people joined a protest march on Monday, after a crackdown foiled CJP plans for a weekend demonstration. Earlier, police arrested thousands of protesters, including CJP leaders, over the weekend.

Following the mass detentions, Human Rights Watch urged the government to end the “mistreatment” and “arbitrary” arrests of protesters and allow people to protest peacefully.

“The Modi government should stop throwing young protesters in jail and instead engage with them to address concerns about voting rights and election fairness,” Elaine Pearson, HRW’s Asia director, said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Peaceful protests and freedom of expression are fundamental rights protected by international human rights law that Indian leaders claim to respect,” she added.

Delhi Police announced on Monday that the open-air astronomical observatory Jantar Mantar was no longer designated as an official protest site and that three new locations had been identified for demonstrations.

However, CJP leaders and supporters continued their protest plan at Jantar Mantar and were taken into custody.

“You can’t denotify resistance,” CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke told X after their detention.

A video posted on his account showed a dozen volunteers jumping gates and barricades to reach the site, where they waved the Indian flag and chanted slogans as police arrived and arrested them.

Delhi police did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Reuters news agency.

In a previous article, Dipke said government efforts to block the site would do nothing to deter their campaign.

“If Modi thinks that removing Jantar Mantar will end the protests, he is wrong. Jantar Mantar is not just a place but a spirit of resistance that no one can ever take away,” he said.

The youth-led movement, which has mobilized protests in recent months over a range of issues, poses one of the biggest political challenges to the BJP and Modi during his 12 years in power.

The Electoral Commission denied favoring any party by revising the electoral roll and said voters wrongly removed could re-register.