New Delhi [India], October 14 : Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) activists Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka have been sent to five days of judicial custody following their detention during a protest near Jantar Mantar, party member Ajinkya Shinde said on Wednesday, asserting that the activists would not be intimidated by the action.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke confirmed the arrest saying, "Ashu and Saurav have been sent to 5 days judicial custody. Their fault? Unfurling tricolour at Jantar Mantar. Show some guts, @narendramodi. If you’re so determined to crush dissent, have the courage to officially declare an Emergency instead of hiding behind these cowardly tactics."

Speaking to reporters, CJP activist Ajinkya Shinde who had also been under preventive arrest with Das and Ranka alleged that the activists were detained for waving the Tricolour and raising slogans of 'Vande Mataram' and 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'.
"You must know that today Ashutosh, Saurav Das, and I, along with CJP volunteers, went towards Jantar Mantar, and we just waved the Indian flag and shouted Vande Mataram. So for this, this Modi-Shah fascist government has sent Saurav Das and Ashutosh to jail for 5 days," he said.
Ajinkya said the action would not deter the party's activists from continuing their protest.
"If Modi and Shah think that sending our Ashutosh and Saurav to jail for five days will scare these two leaders, then they are absolutely wrong. They just said that they are going in with their heads held high. They have told the people of the country that they will not back down and will keep fighting until this fascist government is brought down," he said.
Referring to Ashutosh's birthday, Ajinkya said it was unfortunate that he had been sent to jail on the occasion.
"Today was Ashutosh's birthday. On his birthday, they sent him to jail for waving the Vande Mataram slogan and the tricolour flag," he said, alleging that the government was misusing its power and violating people's fundamental rights.
Drawing a comparison with the British era, Ajinkya said freedom fighters had been jailed for raising patriotic slogans and waving the national flag during the struggle for independence.
"You might have heard earlier that during the British era, when our revolutionary comrades fought for freedom, the British would put them in jail when they hoisted the Indian flag. And that same British government is now being run in this country by Modi and Shah. I want to tell Modi and Shah that your arrogance will soon come to an end," he said.
For the next course of action, Ajinkya said that the party's National Working Committee would meet later in the day and that a decision would be announced after the meeting.
Meanwhile, Advocate Abhisht Hela, representing CJP's Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka, and Ajinkya Shinde, questioned the authority of the Special Executive Magistrate (SEM) to order judicial custody and challenged the grounds cited by the Delhi Police.
"They have been sent to 5-day judicial custody because of the presumption of the Police that they can commit a crime. Police lied in Court that they had given a call urging people to come there. They had not given any call. They have not violated the bond. The separate complaint over Connaught Place has been misused here, and they have been sent to 5-day judicial custody," he said.
The lawyer said the police had argued that the activists had violated their bonds and could repeat the alleged offence, citing Section 163 and other provisions. The lawyer also questioned the use of a separate complaint registered in Connaught Place in the proceedings.
"Our argument was, first of all, we challenged their authority. Challenging the authority, we said that the powers to do all these things like JC or capital punishment, those powers lie with a Judicial Magistrate First Class, a Magistrate First Class, or a Magistrate Second Class. SCM is not an SC Magistrate, first or second class magistrate," the lawyer said.
The lawyer further argued that preventive detention provisions were being misused to suppress dissent and said several judgments had been cited before the authorities.
The Delhi Police had detained the CJP activists on Tuesday for allegedly trespassing at Jantar Mantar while attempting to enter the site, a day after authorities de-notified it as a designated protest location. Police sources said a case was registered in connection with the incident.
CJP legal head Ratna Singh had earlier alleged that the activists were denied access to their lawyers for several hours and were not initially informed of the grounds for their detention. She also said the activists were likely to be produced before the relevant magistrate.
The developments come amid the CJP and Opposition parties' ongoing agitation against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.