New Delhi, Oct. 14 -- Two members of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), Sourav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, have been sent to five days of judicial custody after being detained over an alleged trespass of Jantar Mantar and obstruction of police personnel, Delhi Police said on Wednesday.
The incident occurred on a morning of October 13 when 14 CJP members, including Das, Ranka and Ajinkya Shinde, allegedly marched into the area on private premises even as Jantar Mantar has been de-notified as a protest site. Police said that security personnel deployed at the location prevented the men from proceeding, but the CJP activists allegedly obstructed them while they performed their duty. The police registered two FIRs in the incident at Connaught Place and Parliament Street police stations, and all 14 were detained and bound down in the cases, police said.
Das, Ranka and Shinde were also arrested under preventive detention laws, police said, citing their allegedly repeated attempts to cause disturbance of public peace and breach of restrictions imposed under lockdown, while they also allegedly used social media to provoke others to follow similar actions. The three were produced before the Special Executive Magistrate where the proceedings were taken under sections 126 and 170 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). After going through the police report and concerns of further alleged violations, the SEM ordered five days judicial custody for Das and Ranka.
Shinde, on the other hand, was bound down to maintain peace and good behaviour for six months on a personal bond and surety of Rs 5,000. It comes as police continue to deal with the CJP's attempts to organise protests at Jantar Mantar after it was de-notified as a protest site.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.