‘Jantar Mantar belongs to people’: Rahul slams jail term for CJP leaders
Rahul Gandhi has criticized the five-day judicial custody of activists from the Cockroach Janata Party who were arrested for protesting at Jantar Mantar. The activists were detained for trespassing and violating peace bonds while demanding the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner.
Why it matters
The incident highlights ongoing tensions regarding freedom of assembly and the designation of protest sites in India's capital.
NEW DELHI: Congress leader and leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday condemned the five-day judicial custody of Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka. He said that waving the national flag during a peaceful protest was not a crime."Waving the Tricolour at Jantar Mantar in a peaceful protest is not a crime. Jailing youth for it is an act of cowardice. Students. Youth. Journalists. The INDIA bloc. Different banners, one cause. All protests are one: citizens demanding their constitutional rights. Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India. We will reclaim it," Rahul Gandhi said in a post on X.Das and Ranka were sent to five-day judicial custody and lodged in Tihar Jail on Wednesday for allegedly violating their peace bonds and trespassing into Jantar Mantar, which was recently de-notified as a designated protest site, police sources said.
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