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. Bail bond formalities for their associate Ajinkya Shinde were being finalised, they added.The three CJP leaders were produced before an Executive Magistrate on Wednesday morning. They had been detained early Tuesday after allegedly breaching barricades and entering the protest site without authorisation while raising slogans demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.Police registered a case against the activists on charges including trespassing, violating prohibitory orders, breaching a peace bond and obstructing a public servant from discharging official duties, sources said. Das and Ranka had signed bonds to maintain peace for a year after being detained during a protest on Saturday, they added.The action comes amid heightened security in the national capital following a series of protests by the CJP and other organisations against Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
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Reacting to the development, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke accused the Central government of suppressing dissent and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly declare an Emergency if the government intended to curb protests.“Ashu and Saurav have been sent to five days’ judicial custody. Their fault? Unfurling the Tricolour at Jantar Mantar.”“Show some guts, @narendramodi. If you’re so determined to crush dissent, have the courage to officially declare an Emergency instead of hiding behind these cowardly tactics,” he posted on X.