Protest turns tense, 3 FIRs filed, Neha Bora detained

High drama unfolded in the national Capital on Sunday as protests and marches demanding Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation turned tense, with demonstrators breaking barricades, blocking buses carrying detainees and attempting to move towards Jantar Mantar. The Delhi Police registered three FIRs and briefly detained All India Students’ Association (AISA) national president Neha Bora on the third consecutive day of agitation at Jantar Mantar.

AAP workers, members of its student wing ASAP, NSUI workers, AISA activists and members of other organisations took part in the demonstrations, prompting a heavy deployment of Delhi Police and paramilitary personnel across central Delhi.

Visuals from the protest showed AAP workers blocking buses carrying people detained during the demonstration as security personnel tried to clear the area. The situation escalated when protesters broke through barricades and moved towards Jantar Mantar. Delhi Police and the Rapid Action Force were deployed as security personnel attempted to stop the protesters from advancing. Women protesters were also seen climbing onto a vehicle as the situation grew tense.

At the AISA protest, the organisation claimed that their national president Neha Bora was picked up by Delhi Police in a private vehicle without an official number plate and taken to an unknown location during the protest. Later, they claimed that she was released at the Narela Industrial Area police station. They claimed Bora was released without her phone and bag, adding that a team of lawyers was being sent to the police station to assist her. They also alleged that no woman police officer was present inside the vehicle when Bora was taken away, calling it a violation of procedure. The allegations are baseless, a senior police officer said. The officer claimed some protesters attacked police personnel on duty and bit them.

A fresh attempt to reach Jantar Mantar on Sunday brought protesters face-to-face with heavy police barricading in Central Delhi, as the agitation entered its third day. Activists of the AISA began marching from Andhra Bhawan Circle on Ashoka Road towards the designated protest site, raising slogans as security personnel stopped them from crossing the barricades.

Bora also framed the mobilisation in an X post as a women-led assertion of the right to protest, saying women could not be stripped of their freedom or prevented from taking to the streets.

In the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) protest, police detained more than a dozen workers while they protested at India Gate for Kumar’s resignation.

Speaking to reporters from inside a police bus, Bhardwaj accused police officers of maltreating him during the detention. “They are picking me up and throwing me around like I am a football...They are standing there peacefully, yet these people are behaving so rudely towards them. What do these people think of the commoner? If this is how they treat politicians and journalists, imagine how they must treat the general public. This Government must go, and I urge everyone to come to India Gate and make their voices heard. That thief! That thief! That thief!” he said.

AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal reacted sharply to the detention in a post on X. “This is absolutely shocking. Modi ji has left even Hitler behind,” he said.

In another protest, the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) held a protest march in Delhi. IYC workers attempted to march from the organisation’s office on Raisina Road towards Jantar Mantar, carrying candles, posters and the Tricolour, raising slogans against the Election Commission (EC) and CEC Gyanesh Kumar. The protest came days after Delhi Police denied IYC permission to hold a demonstration at Jantar Mantar.

The protest is part of the larger agitation across cities over alleged irregularities in the Election Commission’s functioning, the conduct of the SIR exercise, and the mass deletion of voters. The latest demonstration also took place under heightened security, with police personnel deployed at multiple points and barricades placed to regulate the movement of protesters.

Sunday’s demonstration came a day after authorities detained more than 150 protesters in Delhi. More than 500 people, including student activists and political leaders, had also been detained during protests in central Delhi on Friday. Bora, AAP leaders and activist Yogendra Yadav were among those detained that day.