CJP supporters flag suspicious WhatsApp ‘attendance polls’ amid allegations of police surveillance, arbitrary detentions
Protesters associated with the Cockroach Janta Party are raising concerns over potential police surveillance via suspicious WhatsApp attendance polls. Participants fear these polls are being used to track movements and facilitate preventive detentions.
Why it matters
This highlights growing concerns regarding digital privacy and the potential for law enforcement to weaponize social media metadata against political activists.
As protests called by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) continue , participants have raised concerns over the alleged infiltration of WhatsApp groups by the police, citing suspicious “attendance polls” that they fear could be used to identify potential protesters and track their movements.
Several members of CJP-related WhatsApp groups told The Hindu that they received polls asking whether they intended to attend protests, followed by messages directing participants to specific locations where, they alleged, no protesters had assembled, but people were being detained. They feared that their identities and responses were being used to facilitate preventive detentions.
The concerns come days after The Hindu reported that Delhi Police personnel were monitoring at least 200 WhatsApp and Telegram groups ahead of the CJP’s October 10 protest call.
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