Indian Court Orders Release of Two 'Cockroach' Movement Leaders Detained After Jantar Mantar Protest
NEW DELHI — An Indian court on Wednesday, October 21, ordered the release of two leaders of the youth-led "Cockroach" movement, local media reported, after they were detained last week for demonstrating at a historic protest venue in violation of a ban, Reuters reported.
A local court in New Delhi ordered the release of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das late on Wednesday, the legal website Live Law said. Das and Ranka were among 14 people who scaled barricades on October 13 to enter the Jantar Mantar observatory in central Delhi, a day after it was removed from a list of designated protest sites. The group unfurled the national flag and chanted slogans demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, before police detained them; a court later sent them to prison for five days, and on Monday their prison stay was extended for two more days.
The youth-led CJP, opposition parties and left-wing student organisations have held several protests this month demanding that Kumar quit over a revision of voter lists they say favours Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party. The Election Commission has denied favouring any party and said wrongly deleted voters can re-enrol, while the BJP has accused rivals of trying to undermine democracy by wrongly questioning legitimate electoral processes.
Related: Delhi Braces for Second Day of Youth Protests as More Than 2,000 Detained Over Election Chief Row
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：新德里简塔曼塔天文台（资料图）。照片：Subeesh Balan，CC BY-SA 3.0，经Wikimedia Commons。The Jantar Mantar observatory in New Delhi (file photo). Photo: Subeesh Balan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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