India, Oct. 7 -- This Monday evening, yellow police barricades stand beneath the trees beside Jantar Mantar, in Central Delhi. Men in blue camouflage linger by a banner warning against "any public gathering." Khaki uniforms appear beyond the road's barricade. Only a few people in civilian clothes are walking along the pavement linking the Jantar Mantar monument complex to the adjoining protest square.

Here, almost unnoticed, is a public park. Its secretive entrance stands at a turning of the said pavement. A board identifies it simply as "NDMC Park", displaying a map of paths and trees, though the place hardly seems large enough to need one.

From outside, the park's greenery could be taken for a roadside plantation. Step inside, and it ...