CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke granted conditional bail, must sign peace bond

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke was granted conditional bail on Saturday, October 17, after being detained while heading to a protest in Delhi. Police said he would be released after signing a bond requiring him to maintain peace for one year.

Abhijeet was produced before a Special Executive Magistrate after Delhi Police detained him on October 16 evening while he was on his way to the CJP’s ‘Lehra Do Tiranga’ protest at Connaught Place’s Central Park. He was detained shortly after stepping out of a house in the Jhandewalan area where he was staying.

Earlier on Friday, police personnel had served Abhijeet a notice prohibiting him from holding the march, citing his public statements and calls on social media to gather at Connaught Place without permission. Despite the notice, he stepped out at around 4.50 pm, wearing a white t-shirt bearing Mahatma Gandhi’s photograph and carrying the national flag.

In a video of the detention, Abhijeet can be heard questioning the police, saying, “I am alone. Why are you stopping me?” He then unfurled the tricolour before police personnel pushed him into a van.

Police initiated preventive action against Abhijeet under Sections 126 and 170 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). Section 126 allows an Executive Magistrate to take preventive action against a person considered likely to breach the peace, while Section 170 provides for preventive arrest to stop the commission of a cognisable offence.

Abhijeet had previously signed a peace bond undertaking not to disturb public order for one year after Delhi Police took him and CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka into custody from their flight at the Delhi airport on October 10. Police subsequently arrested him in a fresh case over an alleged violation of that undertaking.

Saurav and Ashutosh remain in judicial custody after they were detained on allegations of entering the Jantar Mantar area on October 13. A Special Executive Magistrate remanded them to five days of judicial custody over the alleged breach of their peace bonds.

All India Students’ Association (AISA) president Neha Bora, who was also detained on Friday while heading towards the protest, was released early on Saturday.

The CJP had called for the ‘Lehra Do Tiranga’ protest to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and oppose the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Police had deployed additional personnel and cordoned off Central Park ahead of the planned gathering.