New Delhi, Oct. 16 -- It's like a scene from a movie. But when was the last time an Indian movie had anything this exhilarating? Neha Bora, national president of the All India Students' Association (AISA), who's been at the heart of the ongoing protests in Delhi against chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, bursts into the frame and sprints towards the unmistakable white pillars of Connaught Place. Someone chases behind with a camera. For a second or two, as they race past cops and assorted paramilitary, it looks like they might make it into the gullies and out of reach. But then a group of women cops grab Bora, they're forced to the ground, and it's one more detention among thousands carried out that weekend.

It's over too soon, bu...