Cockroach Janta Party Leaders Arrested Before Delhi Protest
- Security forces filled the capital with yellow barricades, buses, and batons, closing dozens of metro stations and cancelling several trains to stop the demonstration from taking place at...
- Police intercepted key leaders of the Generation Z-focused Cockroach Janta Party before the protests could begin on October 11, 2026.
- Ratna Singh, who leads the party's legal team, stated that more than two dozen police officers surrounded her car to trap her inside.
They’re stealing votes,
Tanmay Koli said. He had come from Pune, a city to the south.
Security forces filled the capital with yellow barricades, buses, and batons, closing dozens of metro stations and cancelling several trains to stop the demonstration from taking place at Jantar Nahar.
Mass Arrests Target Cockroach Janta Party Organizers
Police intercepted key leaders of the Generation Z-focused Cockroach Janta Party before the protests could begin on October 11, 2026. Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the political group, posted an Instagram video showing officers boarding his aircraft to detain him upon landing in New Delhi. The group confirmed that two fellow leaders, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, were also arrested by authorities.
Ratna Singh, who leads the party’s legal team, stated that more than two dozen police officers surrounded her car to trap her inside. In a video shared by the group, police told Singh they intended to take her home and hold her there. When she asked for a warrant, officers replied that they had orders from above.
I am not getting out of the car, and they are not leaving this space.
Ratna Singh
Protesters Holed Up Inside a Sikh Temple
Nearly 300 would-be demonstrators spent October 11, 2026, holed up inside a Sikh temple roughly two kilometres from the planned protest site at Jantar Mantar. Most of them had arrived overnight, but police subsequently barricaded all roads leading to the venue. Tanmay Koli, 20, rode a train for two days by himself from Pune, found his way to the temple to sit and eat, and then headed out to the blocked streets with two other young men he had just met.
Another protester, 28-year-old Om, travelled from Chandigarh to join the demonstration because he felt democracy was in danger. Lucky, a 23-year-old who travelled 14 hours by train from Bihar, stated that he was protesting against corruption in both the electoral system and education. I don’t think they will shoot us or kill us,
Lucky said. At most, they will take us to jail – and I am ready for that.
Demands for Basic Constitutional Rights
Closer to the barricaded Jantar Mantar site, a group of women sat on a kerb waiting for other demonstrators to break through the security cordon. Nada Haseen, 22, questioned how the nation was treating citizens who sought only their fundamental rights through peaceful means. We are asking for our basic right – to vote, and for that we are fighting, in a very non-violent form of protest, which is allowed in our constitution,
Haseen said. Aren’t we children of this nation?