India braces for new protests as ‘cockroach’ leaders are released

New Delhi braced for a second day of youth protests demanding the resignation of India‘s election chief on Sunday, as a court ordered the release of “cockroach” movement founder Abhijeet Dipke and two other senior leaders.

Dipke, the founder of the Cockroach Janta Party, and the other leaders were detained when their plane landed in Delhi on Saturday as the movement planned to gather thousands of people at Jantar Mantar in Central Delhi.

They were produced in front of a magistrate early on Sunday.

“Condition — no breach of peace for one year,” the CJP’s legal head Ratna Singh said in a post on X announcing their release.

Activist and social media influencer Dhruv Rathee, who was also among those detained, was released past midnight on condition he did not participate in any further protests, said an interior ministry official who declined to be named.

Police detained more than 2,000 people and locked down Delhi’s city center to thwart Saturday’s protest, and thousands of police and paramilitary personnel continued to be deployed across the city on Sunday although metro stations reopened and mobile internet services were back up.

Most of those detained on the first day of protests were released…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business