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CJP leaders Das and Ranka walk out of Tihar after promising not to call protests at Jantar Mantar
A magistrate released the two Cockroach Janta Party leaders on Wednesday evening, a week after they climbed into Jantar Mantar. They gave written undertakings and Rs 50,000 bonds, and the case is not closed. They must be in court again on Friday.
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Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, the two Cockroach Janta Party leaders, walked out of Tihar Jail on Wednesday evening, 21 October, after a Special Executive Magistrate ordered their release. They had spent seven days in judicial custody. Das pumped his fist as he left; Ranka shouted "Inquilab Zindabad" before driving away.
The price of freedom was a written promise. In undertakings filed with the court, each of them agreed to keep the peace and not to call for any protest at Jantar Mantar "till such a time that it is de-notified in accordance with Law". Any future protest, they said, would be held "within the four corners of the Constitution". They also told the court they had "full faith in the judiciary and all its instruments", including the magistrate's own court. Each furnished a personal bond and a surety bond of Rs 50,000, valid until the inquiry into the Jantar Mantar trespass case ends.
Special Executive Magistrate Ritu Raj held that the measures needed under Section 135(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita could be secured through the bonds and the undertakings, and that "further judicial custody does not appear to be necessary at this stage". The order is not an acquittal. The court made clear that the inquiry continues, and it set conditions: the two must appear on every hearing date, follow the bond terms strictly, and the investigating officer must file a verification report on their sureties at the next hearing.
Delhi Police had opposed release. They asked for a further three-day extension of custody, arguing that the leaders' later statements and conduct kept the risk of a breach of peace alive, and that they had taken contradictory positions in court and in the media on whether they would refrain from similar activities. The magistrate's order was also sharp about the pair's past conduct, saying it did not inspire "confidence" and that they showed "no respect for law" by repeatedly calling for protests at a site that had been de-notified. Their counsel offered an unconditional apology over remarks allegedly made by a party member while the two were being taken to Tihar earlier.
The High Court gave them little to hold on to
Earlier on Wednesday, a single-judge bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad allowed the pair to withdraw their petition against the magistrate's order extending their custody. The court gave no opinion on the merits and suggested they await the magistrate's proceedings before looking for another remedy. During the hearing the bench referred to a "breach of bond" and told the petitioners that when they were at the forefront of a protest and broke barricades, "there are chances that more people may follow".
Founded by Abhijeet Dipke as a youth-led movement, the party made Das, an investigative journalist, and Ranka, who studied at IIT Kanpur, its spokespersons in June. Das, Ranka and party member Ajinkya Shinde were among 14 people detained on 13 October. Police allege the group entered Jantar Mantar through private premises and obstructed officers; the party says the pair climbed the locked gates and waved the national flag in protest at the site's removal from the list of designated protest venues. Earlier in the month the two had signed bonds to keep the peace for a year, and police argued that the Jantar Mantar episode broke them. On 14 October they were sent to five days of judicial custody, and on Monday the magistrate added two more. On Tuesday they went to the High Court, which did not take up their plea that night. The related cases have also been handed to the Crime Branch.
The protests behind all of it have a single demand: that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign over the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls. The Election Commission denies any wrongdoing.
What happens next
The matter is listed again on Friday, 23 October, at 3 pm, and both leaders and their sureties must attend. If they break the terms, the reported consequences include further proceedings for breach of the undertaking, forfeiture of the surety amounts and possible re-arrest. That leaves the movement with an awkward calendar: the Samyukt Kisan Morcha and other groups have called protests for the same Friday. The party's leaders can campaign, but not by calling people to the one place where the protest began.
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