CJP Flags ‘Procedural Delays’ as Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka Remain in Custody

The release of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka remained uncertain on Sunday, with activist Ratna Singh alleging that their bail hearing was delayed because the designated magistrate failed to arrive on time and that four sureties were rejected on what she described as vague grounds.

Singh said she had been waiting at Mandir Marg police station in New Delhi since 11 am, with the hearing scheduled for noon. However, according to her post on X, the Assistant Commissioner of Police, who also functions as the Special Executive Magistrate (ACP/SEM), had not arrived by 4.42 pm.

She alleged that people who had faced FIRs for participating in protests were being treated as having criminal antecedents, raising concerns about the grounds on which their sureties were rejected. Police had not responded to the allegations at the time of publication.

“Unfurling the Indian National Flag is not a crime, and the boys should not remain in custody due to procedural delays,” Singh said in another post, questioning the functioning of SEM courts in the national capital. She also alleged an “ absolute misuse of power ” and called for authorities to follow the judicial hierarchy.

Das and Ranka were sent to five days of judicial custody on October 14 after allegedly entering Jantar Mantar by scaling its locked gates. The protest site had been denotified as a designated venue for demonstrations. The CJP leaders maintained that they had unfurled the national flag and raised slogans.

The party had warned on Saturday that it would pursue legal action if the two leaders were not released by Sunday. It said it had consulted senior advocate Kapil Sibal and vowed to hold accountable those it accused of deliberately prolonging their detention.

The CJP argued that keeping the leaders behind bars through procedural delays could not go unchallenged, maintaining that they had neither committed nor been charged with an offence warranting continued custody.

The party has been protesting against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging that the exercise threatens voters’ rights.