New Delhi, July 27 -- Two days after calling off its 36-day nationwide agitation, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Monday said it was still awaiting the Centre's promised written assurance on the withdrawal of FIRs and protection of protesters, alleging that students and volunteers were continuing to face detention and arrests in states such as Bihar, West Bengal and Assam despite the government's commitment. Warning that it would be "forced to resume its nationwide agitation if the assurances were not honoured."
The organisation also launched 'Saakshi', a digital platform to preserve evidence from the protest movement and connect affected students with legal assistance. Senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal announced a Rs.1 crore contribution towards the initiative and appealed to lawyers across the country to join the legal aid effort.
Addressing a joint press conference with Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate Kapil Sibal, CJP spokespersons Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das said the organisation was yet to receive the Centre's promised written agreement on the withdrawal of criminal cases and protection from future legal action.
The CJP had suspended its nationwide agitation on July 25 after three rounds of talks with the Centre, following the resignation of former Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged NEET-UG examination irregularities. The Centre had assured the organisation that no coercive action would be taken against peaceful protesters and had agreed to work towards withdrawing FIRs, compensating families of students who died by suicide in accordance with existing rules, and considering the CJP's five-point charter on examination reforms. BJP leader Pralhad Joshi was subsequently appointed as the new Union Education Minister.
However, Das said the organisation had since received multiple reports of students and other protesters being "targeted, detained or arrested" by state agencies. "Our decision to suspend the nationwide protest was taken in good faith and solely on the basis of the government's assurance. Any departure from that assurance would amount to a breach of public trust with lakhs of young Indians who chose dialogue over protest," he said.
The CJP urged Union Ministers J.P. Nadda and Jitendra Singh to immediately ensure the release of all detained protesters, prevent any retaliatory action and facilitate the withdrawal of FIRs. It also reminded the Centre of its commitment to provide a written guarantee on the issue by Tuesday.
Ranka alleged that hundreds of students had been arrested in Bihar and West Bengal, while volunteers were being detained or surveilled in Delhi and other states. He said the agreement reached with the Centre included withdrawal of all FIRs filed against protesters and organisers across the country and an assurance that no fresh cases would be registered in the future. If the government failed to implement these commitments, he warned, the CJP would have "no option but to sit on protest again."
The warning comes amid continuing police action in Bihar. Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Kartikeya K. Sharma said 86 people arrested during the July 25 violence near Gandhi Maidan had been sent to judicial custody, while 60 others, including women and minors, were released on personal bonds. Multiple FIRs have also been registered in connection with the July 22 and July 25 protests. In a separate incident, a police personnel in Siwan was suspended after allegedly firing an AK-47 during violence linked to the bandh.
Reaffirming its commitment to the movement, the CJP said its legal team had been working with lawyers across the country since the first day of the agitation to secure the release of detained protesters and provide legal assistance. Das said the organisation had consulted Kapil Sibal throughout the movement, particularly before withdrawing the protest, fearing that participants could later be targeted through legal action. "We have seen this playbook before. We wanted to ensure the youth movement was not weakened by politically motivated cases," he said.
To strengthen legal support, the CJP launched 'Saakshi', a digital platform that allows protesters and witnesses to securely upload original photographs and videos from demonstrations. The platform creates a cryptographic fingerprint for every uploaded file, preserving it as tamper-evident evidence that can be shared with verified legal aid teams. Das appealed to protesters, particularly those who participated in the July 20 'Chalo Sansad' march, to upload any evidence of alleged police brutality or misconduct.
Kapil Sibal announced that he would contribute Rs.1 crore towards the initiative and appealed to lawyers across the country to join the effort. He said the platform would also maintain a nationwide database tracking legal action against protesters, identify those requiring legal assistance and connect them with lawyers willing to represent them. "Wherever the law is misused and false cases are filed against peaceful protesters, we will stand with them," Sibal said.
The CJP reiterated that while it had chosen dialogue over confrontation after the Centre accepted several key demands, it expected every assurance made during negotiations to be implemented in both letter and spirit. Failure to release detained protesters, withdraw FIRs and provide the promised written agreement, it said, would leave the organisation with no choice but to restart its nationwide agitation.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.