The bail hearing of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka was delayed on Sunday after the Special Executive Magistrate (SEM) allegedly failed to arrive at the scheduled time, activist Ratna Singh claimed. Singh, the party’s legal head, also alleged that four sureties submitted in support of the bail pleas had been rejected on “vague” grounds.
In a post on X, Singh said she had been waiting at Mandir Marg police station since 11 am, although the hearing was scheduled for noon. At 4.42 pm, she claimed, the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), who was also functioning as the SEM, had yet to arrive for the proceedings.
“This is really concerning. They have rejected 4 sureties till now on vague reasons. They have made people who have FIRs against them for being part of protest as people having criminal antecedents (sic),” Singh alleged.
Das and Ranka were remanded to five days of judicial custody on October 14 after allegedly entering Jantar Mantar by scaling its locked gates. The site had been denotified as a designated protest venue. The CJP leaders maintained that they had unfurled the national flag and raised slogans.
Speaking to the media later on Sunday, Singh said the verification process had been completed, and all requirements had been met, but the legal team had been waiting since noon.
She alleged that although the SEM reached the police station by 1.30 pm, he did not enter the courtroom until 5 pm. According to Singh, he subsequently declined to hear the case on its merits and made what she described as arbitrary remarks instead.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke also accused the authorities of deliberately prolonging the detention of Das and Ranka.
“They have no legal grounds to keep them behind bars, so they are resorting to delaying tactics to keep them there,” Dipke alleged in a post on X.
There was no immediate response from the police to the allegations.
The CJP 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.