A cockroach effigy was burnt in New Delhi marking the Hindu festival of Dussehra, which celebrates the triumph of good over evil. The ruling BJP party event, attended by Prime Minister Modi, coincides with nationwide protests by the Cockroach Janta Party.
Published On 21 Oct 202621 Oct 2026
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The extension of the custody of the CJP activists comes amid a crackdown on near daily protests against the government.
Published On 19 Oct 202619 Oct 2026
An Indian court has extended the detention of two leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).
The extension for Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das on Monday comes amid a crackdown on near-daily protests against the government.
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The two activists from the youth-led movement were arrested as they demonstrated at a historic protest venue despite a ban. Their jailing provoked a new protest in New Delhi on Friday.
The CJP is a major force behind the protests, which have demanded the resignation of India’s election chief over a controversial revision of voter lists that critics say favours Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Ranka and Das were among 14 protesters who climbed over barricades last week to enter the Jantar Mantar observatory, the day after it was removed from a list of approved demonstration sites. A court later sent the activists to prison for five days.
Indian media reported on Monday evening that they had been detained for two more days after police requested extra time to question them. Delhi Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“This is an absolute mockery of the judicial system,” the CJP’s legal head, Ratna Singh, told reporters outside the court, adding that the party would challenge the order in a higher court.
The CJP, alongside opposition parties and left-wing student organisations, has led near-daily protests this month demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, after 130 million names were removed from voter lists.
The Election Commission has said that the lists included 28 million people who have died, 63 million who have relocated, and 30 million who could not be traced. It denied favouring any party and said wrongly deleted voters can re-enrol.
The BJP has accused rivals of trying to undermine democracy by wrongly questioning legitimate electoral processes.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, student leaders and several of their supporters were also detained on Friday as hundreds poured into central Delhi for a protest in support of Das and Ranka.
However, the youth-led movement insists it will not back off. A sit-in by the CJP and its supporters earlier this year forced the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over exam paper leaks.
Two leaders of India’s Cockroach Janta Party have been jailed for five days after entering Delhi’s ‘Jantar Mantar’ protest site to demand the election chief’s resignation. The previously designated protest area recently lost its status as an authorised protest venue.
Published On 14 Oct 202614 Oct 2026
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A court in Indian capital Delhi has released the top leaders of the Gen Z-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) as the city sees more protests for a second day with thousands of security personnel deployed and roads barricaded.
Abhijeet Dipke – who began the movement in May after India’s Chief Justice likened some jobless young people to “cockroaches” – and other leaders were arrested on arrival in Delhi on Saturday to lead protests seeking electoral reforms.
In his first comments after his release, Dipke said “the CJP will neither back down nor be intimidated”.
On Saturday, media reports said, 7,000 demonstrators were detained and released late at night.
The CJP – which is not registered as a political party in India – is seeking electoral reforms just months before crucial state elections.
It has also demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over allegations of manipulating voters’ lists – which the Election Commission has denied.
On Sunday morning, the CJP lawyer Ratna Singh said she had been informed by the police that Dipke and two other senior CJP leaders – Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka – would be produced before the magistrate by the police seeking their remand “to maintain public peace”.
She subsequently posted on X that the three had been set free by the court “on the condition that they will not engage in breach of peace for one year” – she later deleted the post about the condition and it’s not clear what that means and whether the CJP leaders can take part in protests.
After his release, Dipke posted on X, external, saying: “Modi, as PM, is an embarrassment to India.”
In another post, external, he said he was going to his village to attend his grandmother’s funeral who died around the time of his arrest yesterday.
“Heading back to my village to be with my family during this moment of grief,” he posted, adding that Das and Ranka would address a press conference in Delhi.
“The CJP will neither back down nor be intimidated,” he added.
Saturday saw dramatic scenes as police officials boarded the flight to detain Dipke, Das and Ranka as their plane landed.