Overview
- Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were remanded to five days of judicial custody on Wednesday and lodged in Tihar Jail after police said they scaled barricades to enter the denotified Jantar Mantar.
- Police registered multiple FIRs that list trespass, violation of prohibitory orders, breach of peace bonds and obstruction of public servants as the grounds for detention.
- Delhi Police told the magistrate the remands were needed because the activists had earlier signed surety bonds and there was a risk they would reoffend or incite others, and the court accepted a police report in remanding them.
- CJP lawyers have challenged the custody order, questioning the Special Executive Magistrate’s authority to remand the activists and alleging delayed access to counsel and procedural irregularities.
- The arrests have drawn strong political backlash from opposition leaders who defended the protestors and vowed legal and street responses, and they add momentum to wider demonstrations demanding accountability over the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls.