Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) leaders Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das came down heavily on the Centre at their first press conference after coming out of 24-hour detention by the Delhi Police. Das said the entire country was in an emergency-like situation, with protesters being detained, transport curbs in place and internet services shut down in parts of the national capital.
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“Entire delhi is like a fort with 40,000 personnel. They are trying to give a negative image to our movement…by shutting 50+ metro stations, shops, roads. They want to put the genZ movement in bad light,” Das told reporters on Sunday.
Also Read | No illegal detention of protesters in Delhi; metro, internet to run normally: Supreme Court
Das says ‘they were abducted’
The CJP leader continued his attack on the Modi government, saying they knew they would be detained but did not expect it to happen this way.
“When we landed, police immediately jumped into the stairs leading to the plane and abducted us,” he said.
Das added their phones were taken away after their detention and they were told that no lawyer could be provided to them during detention.
“They gave us no papers or grounds of detention. They seized our phones forcefully using female cops. We still gave our phones and asked for seizure memo but they refused to do so…We have a legal right to a lawyer but police said no. They said that under detention, we have no rights. Imagine what they must be doing to others.”
Das then alleged that their phones might have been cloned.
“We suspect what all they must have done to our phones. We think they hacked our phones. Or cloned our phones. Maybe they planted evidence. And this is a rational doubt. Since they gave us no document and had our phones for over 24 hours,” Das said.
He said the government was doing all this to protest Gyanesh Kumar, whom he described as a traitor.
Delhi Police harassed protestors, claims CJP
CJP legal affairs head Ratna Singh accused the Delhi Police of harassing protesters and their families, alleging that officers visited volunteers’ homes and intimidated their parents from Friday night through Saturday.
Calling the government “scared”, Singh alleged that the police were acting at the government’s behest. She claimed that she was followed by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) after landing in Delhi and that officers chased her as though she were a criminal.
“Four police personnel came to my apartment. They harassed my flatmates by ringing doorbell in the morning . Later, when I left and was sitting in car. All of a sudden, four cars cams and detained me by surrounding me from two sides. I was sitting between 4 cars for 9 hours in Jangpura. This caused problem for all residents. They kept saying they got orders from above. 30-35 officials came and said either I should come to detention center or get house arrested. How can you wrongfully confine us,” Ratna said.
