India's Cockroach party founder released after detention

A court in the Indian capital New Delhi on Saturday granted bail to Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which has been at the forefront of protests against the deletion of voters from electoral rolls.

Dipke was detained by the police ahead of a protest march called by the party at the Delhi’s business hub Connaught Place on Friday.

He was subsequently arrested by the police.

The CJP, along with other opposition parties, has been holding massive protests for several days following a report last month that two election commissioners had raised concerns with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over decisions related to the revision of voter lists in several states and federal territories. The protesters have demanded Kumar’s resignation.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which accused opposition parties and “foreign powers” of attempting to “destabilize the country,” said the Congress “is attacking constitutional institutions for the sake of the chair.”

Dipke was released after a local court granted him bail.

Ratna Singh, a CJP leader, wrote on US social media company X that Dipke had been released.

Dipke was granted conditional bail on Saturday and asked to sign a peace bond, according to the Press Trust of India.

Earlier this week, a court in New Delhi sent two leaders of the Cockroach movement to jail for five days after police detained them for protesting at Jantar Mantar, which authorities denotified as an official protest site this week.