India's 'Cockroach' movement leaders freed from custody, vow to keep protesting over voter-list purge

Three leaders of India's youth-driven Cockroach Janta Party were released from detention on Sunday and said they would continue demonstrations calling for the country's chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, to step down, according to PBS NewsHour, which carried an Associated Press report, and BBC News.

Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained Saturday after police boarded their flight from Mumbai when it landed in New Delhi, where they planned to lead a protest. The BBC reported that a magistrate's court released them on condition that they not breach the peace for one year. AP said it was unclear whether the condition would limit their protest activity. Ranka told reporters, according to the BBC, that the condition did not prevent peaceful protest at a designated site.

In his first remarks after release, Dipke said "the CJP will neither back down nor be intimidated," the BBC reported. He also criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi on X. Das urged supporters to return to the streets, telling reporters, "A situation has been created where the state is at war with its own citizens," according to AP.

Accounts of Saturday's detentions differ. AP reported that police detained more than 2,000 protesters, including several opposition lawmakers, most of whom were freed late Saturday. The BBC cited media reports putting the number at 7,000, with hundreds more detained Sunday.

Authorities imposed broad restrictions in the capital. Both outlets reported canceled train services, closed metro stations and suspended mobile internet in parts of the city; the BBC said at least 45 metro stations were shut and that shops and offices in central Delhi were closed for a second day. Police had denied permission for the planned rally at Jantar Mantar, the BBC said.

On Sunday, India's Supreme Court held a special hearing and ordered the government to restore internet access and normal rail and metro service unless public order was disturbed, and said there should be no illegal detentions, according to the BBC.

The dispute centers on a nationwide revision of voter rolls that has removed more than 130 million names. The Election Commission describes it as a routine effort to remove dead, duplicate or ineligible voters, and Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party has defended it. The movement and opposition parties accuse Kumar of favoring the ruling party, which the commission and the BJP deny. The BBC noted the protests come months before key state elections.

The movement grew out of an online campaign after India's chief justice compared some unemployed young people to cockroaches, remarks he says were misinterpreted. Its protests earlier this year preceded the resignation of the education minister in July, both outlets reported.

Compiled by True News from reporting by PBS NewsHour and BBC News. Each outlet's original story is linked below.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/49