Indian court orders release of ‘Cockroach’ movement leaders, media say

MUMBAI, Oct 21 (Reuters) – An Indian court on Wednesday ordered the release of two “cockroach” movement leaders, local media reported, after they were detained last week for demonstrating at a historic protest venue in violation of a ban.

• A local court in the Indian capital of New Delhi ordered the release of Cockroach Janta Party leaders Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das late on Wednesday, legal website Live Law said

• Das and Ranka were among 14 people who scaled barricades on October 13 to enter the Jantar Mantar observatory in central Delhi, a day after it was removed from a list of designated protest sites

• The group unfurled the national flag and chanted slogans demanding the chief election commissioner’s resignation, before police detained them, with a court later sending them to prison for five days. On Monday, their prison stay was extended for two more days

• The youth-led CJP, opposition parties and left-wing student organisations have held several protests this month demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar quit over a revision of voter lists they say favours Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party

• The Election Commission has denied favouring any party and said wrongly deleted voters can re-enrol, while the BJP has accused rivals of trying to undermine democracy by wrongly questioning legitimate electoral processes

• The founder of the CJP, Abhijeet Dipke, was separately detained on Friday and released a day later for trying to lead another protest rally in New Delhi

(Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Toby Chopra)

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