New Delhi: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke was granted conditional bail and released on Saturday after he signed a peace bond, the Delhi Police said.
Dipke was detained on Friday as he headed to join the CJP’s ‘Lehra Do Tiranga’ protest at Central Park in Connaught Place.
On Saturday, he was produced before the court of the Special Executive Magistrate (SEM). The charges against him related to breach of peace under Sections 126 and 170 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
Ratna Singh, head of legal affairs for the CJP, challenged the legality of Dipke’s arrest and urged the SEM court to order his immediate release, alleging violations of fundamental rights and due process, as reported by India Today.
She questioned how urging citizens to participate in a peaceful national demonstration could be treated as an offence, in a post on X.
“The SEM Court should release Abhijeet Dipke, as his arrest is unlawful. He merely urged people to unfurl the Tiranga – how can that by itself be a crime?” Singh wrote.
Raising concerns about the circumstances surrounding Dipke’s detention, she alleged that authorities picked him up right outside his residence, failed to promptly disclose his whereabouts and denied his lawyers access to him.
“The manner in which he was picked up from right outside his residence, no information about his whereabouts, and the fact that even his lawyers have been unable to meet him raise serious concerns about due process and fundamental rights. How can such an apparent abuse of power be justified in a democracy governed by the rule of law? Delhi Police cannot do unlawful acts under the garb of preventive detention,” she added.
Singh had earlier confirmed that police would produce Dipke before the SEM at Mandir Marg Police Station around noon on Saturday.
Earlier, authorities had invoked Section 163 of the BNSS, imposing strict prohibitory orders against public assemblies in Central Delhi.
The fresh charges against Dipke are separate from an earlier preventive action on October 10, when police detained him inside a flight at Delhi airport and required him to sign a peace bond undertaking not to disturb the peace for one year.
CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka are already in judicial custody after they tried to enter the Jantar Mantar area.
All India Students’ Association (AISA) president Neha Bora was also taken into preventive custody during the ‘Lehra Do Tiranga’ protest march at Connaught Place on Friday.
She was released early Saturday morning after completing the formalities related to her detention under Section 65 of the Delhi Police Act.