Indian court releases ‘cockroach’ movement leaders from detention

NEW DELHI, Oct 11 — Founding member of India’s digital youth-driven “cockroach” movement, Abhijeet Dipke, and two additional CJP leaders were released from detention today, according to their attorney. The release came the day after they were apprehended to prevent a large-scale protest against the election commissioner. The protest movement had mobilized thousands of demonstrators ahead of the planned demonstration in New Delhi on Saturday, marking the peak of weeks of opposition efforts spurred by allegations of misconduct during a nationwide voter roll revision.

Ratna Singh, the CJP's lead lawyer, announced Dipke's and the others' release on social media, noting they were granted freedom on the condition that they refrain from any breach of peace for a year. Dipke, clad in white, was seen being escorted away from the court in a black car shortly after his release, reported by AFP. The authorities erected extensive security measures across the city on Saturday, leading to thousands of arrests as they aimed to impede protesters from assembling at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar protest site.

The protest was sparked by the demand for the resignation of the Election Commission of India's head over the nationwide voter roll revision. The revision led to the removal of more than 133 million names from electoral lists, with critics alleging that it disproportionately impacted minorities, particularly Muslims, potentially favoring Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

The Election Commission denied any wrongdoing. The recent detentions garnered harsh criticism from opposition leaders, accusing Modi's government of suppressing dissent, while the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all those detained in New Delhi in Geneva. Both the CJP and opposition leader Rahul Gandhi vowed to continue protests despite the crackdown, with Gandhi asserting that "Gen Z and students" would increasingly grow angrier as Modi and his government intensified their crackdown.