Two CJP leaders go to jail for five days; Rahul Gandhi backs them and the Supreme Court hears the SIR plea today
Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka and Ajinkya Shinde after they entered Jantar Mantar on Tuesday, and Dainik Bhaskar says they were brought to Sansad Marg police station at about 3 am. CJP's legal head Ratna Singh called it an arrest, while Delhi Police described it as preventive (The Hindu, Hindustan Times). A Special Executive Magistrate sent Das and Ranka to five days of judicial custody in a trespassing case (The Hindu, Mint, Live Law), and Reuters carries the party's statement that the two are in jail. Rahul Gandhi condemned the custody (The Economic Times). Abhijeet Dipke, the party's founder, asked supporters to gather with the tricolour at Connaught Place on Friday 16 October at 5 pm (ABP News, The Hindu, India Today). Mint reports that a US singer, Mary Millben, claimed the CJP gets money from select donors; Dipke answered that outsiders are not needed in India's affairs (Hindustan Times). The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation told the Supreme Court that protests kept 2.6 million commuters off trains while 258 stations ran fully (Hindustan Times).
Jantar Mantar was the capital's designated protest ground until its de-notification, so who may protest where is now a live legal question. The Supreme Court has 18 petitions on the protests and detentions (Bar and Bench), and the opposition's separate plea about the voter-roll revision comes up today.
If you live or work in Delhi, expect police restrictions and Metro disruption around protest days, including Friday's call for Connaught Place. If you plan to join a protest, check the permitted venue with Delhi Police first.
Dipke says the government is imposing an unofficial emergency (reports from two outlets), and Rahul Gandhi says waving the tricolour at Jantar Mantar is not a crime.
Delhi Police say the detentions were preventive, and the BJP says no one is above the law (Amar Ujala). BJP's Malhotra called Rahul Gandhi's portrayal of law-breaking as a fight for the tricolour shameful (The Statesman).
Today's Supreme Court hearing will show how far the Court will go on both the voter-roll revision and the protest cases. Watch whether the Court lists Rahul Gandhi's and Asaduddin Owaisi's pleas together, whether Das and Ranka are produced again after five days, and whether Friday's gathering goes ahead in Connaught Place. Treat Millben's funding claim as unproven until someone shows a document.
DailyDrop India edition No. 11 · Morning · THU., OCT. 15, 2026