India's Supreme Court on October 11 ordered authorities to restore metro, rail and internet services in New Delhi, a day after police detained thousands of people during a protest by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), the BBC citing local media reported.
Estimates of people present at protests held on October 10 2026 ranged from 3,000 to 7,000 as police sealed off the centre of the capital.
The CJP had previously secured a major concession from the Indian government over irregularities in India’s medical education entrance exam NEET, after a months-long protest briefly turned violent and then ended with the resignation of India’s then Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan in July.
The renewed protest centres on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of India's electoral rolls. The CJP and many civil society groups in India allege the exercise has wrongly struck off more than 130mn voters, mostly from marginalised and minority groups, and want it frozen.
The CJP is also demanding the resignation of India’s Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The Election Commission of India rejects the accusations and says the revision only deletes duplicate or ineligible entries. In a special sitting, the Supreme Court ruled that police could not illegally detain protesters who were peaceful and unarmed. It told officers to scale back barricading it considered disproportionate.
Authorities had moved to block the gathering days in advance, on October 8 and 9, Delhi Police refused permission for a rally at the central Delhi site Jantar Mantar and deployed 23,000 personnel. They also curbed mobile internet within a 4km radius, asked for 57 metro stations to be shut, cancelled incoming trains and served notices on activists travelling from other states.
On October 10, police stopped CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and co-convenors Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka on board their plane at Delhi Airport after a flight from Mumbai. Opposition figures Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee and Pinarayi Vijayan were briefly held before being freed. YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and student leader Neha Bora, both critics of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were also detained, according to a report by NDTV.
A magistrate court freed Dipke, Das and Ranka on October 11 after roughly 24 hours in preventive detention, on condition they sign a good behaviour bond lasting one year. The party's leaders said the bond did not bar them from assembling peacefully. They accused police of hacking their phones and of holding back news that Dipke's grandmother had died while he was in custody.
As of the morning of October 12, CJP leaders intended to ask Delhi Police to set an official date for a peaceful sit-in at Jantar Mantar, and vowed to keep the nationwide campaign going.
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