The Delhi High Court on Thursday, October 15, 2026, declined to stop the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and its founder Abhijeet Dipke from holding a protest at Connaught Place Central Park the following day, according to The Hindu. The court recorded an assurance from the police that every possible step would be taken to regulate and control the group's activity.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Justice Sanjay Sharma was hearing a petition filed by a Connaught Place vendor. The vendor asked the court to direct the police to regulate the protest in line with existing law laid down by the Supreme Court. According to The Hindu, the petitioner's senior counsel argued that traders and street vendors would be back "on the streets" if they lost another weekend to closures caused by protests in central Delhi during the festive season.
When the petitioner's counsel pressed for a specific order restraining the CJP, the bench declined. "Don't insist. We have passed the order," the bench said, as reported by The Hindu.
Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma told the court that steps had been taken to control the CJP's activities and assured that the petitioner's concerns would be addressed. The Hindustan Times reported that the Delhi Police told the High Court that Dipke was free to hold his protest at Connaught Place and that the force would remain vigilant. Live Law reported that the police also said they would take steps against the CJP and Dipke.
Why it matters
The ruling clears the way for a protest that has become the focal point of a widening confrontation over the Election Commission of India's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The same day, the Supreme Court issued notices on a series of petitions challenging the SIR exercise as well as the mass detentions of protesters, journalists and others during anti-CEC demonstrations in Delhi the previous week, according to The Hindu.
Together, the two court actions put the electoral revision and the police response to dissent before the country's highest courts at the same time. The dispute has also drawn in opposition parties and student organisations beyond the CJP itself.
Dipke accuses Centre of shielding the Chief Election Commissioner
At a press conference in New Delhi, Dipke accused the government of trying to shape election results through voter deletions. He asked whether the removal of more than 13 crore voters from the rolls amounted to a "setting," according to The Hindu.
"Why is Gyanesh Kumar so important to Narendra Modi? Why should we not believe that Gyanesh Kumar is helping Narendra Modi win elections?" Dipke asked, referring to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. "If he is not helping him win elections, why is Narendra Modi providing him with so much protection?"
The CJP has demanded Kumar's resignation over alleged irregularities in the SIR of electoral rolls. Dipke also said the government had treated the unfurling of the national flag as a violation of law, and asked for whose benefit that position was taken. He said Delhi had been brought to a standstill, with the Railways and Metro shut down and the capital turned into a border.
He appeared alongside All India Students' Association national president Neha Bora, Students' Federation of India leader Aishe Ghosh, All India Students' Federation national president Viraaj Devang, Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan and actor and activist Prakash Raj, The Hindu reported.
Ghosh called on citizens to come together to defend democracy, saying her hopes rested with the public rather than the ruling BJP. "Gyanesh has helped them win the whole country," she alleged. "We don't have hopes with the BJP, we have hopes with our citizens. It is time for all of us to unite. The country for which Bhagat Singh fought and Gandhi sacrificed, we have to save this country."
She also raised the treatment of the parents of Ankita Bhandari, a resort receptionist murdered in Uttarakhand in 2022, alleging they had been dragged and handled brutally. Criticising what she described as impunity for people accused of serious crimes, she said, "Rapists are being garlanded."
Arrests, a slogan row in Goa and a call from Jagan Mohan Reddy
CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were arrested and sent to Tihar Jail for allegedly breaching their peace bonds and entering Jantar Mantar on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, after the site had been de-notified as a protest area, according to The Hindu.
YSRCP leader Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said the arrests would not resolve the dispute and called for trust in the electoral process to be restored. "Trust in the electoral process must be restored. The arrests of Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka do not solve anything; it only aggravates the situation," he said in a post on X. The former chief minister added that a proactive approach works better than a reactive one and that the system has a flaw that needs correcting.
In Goa, the CJP's state unit said it does not endorse or support any statement, slogan or action that hurts or disrespects anyone's religious beliefs or sentiments. The statement, posted on Instagram, followed criticism over an "anti-Hindutva" slogan raised at a CJP rally in Panaji. Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had warned of stern legal action against those who shouted "Hinduvad Murdabad" during a CJP protest on October 11. A video circulating on social media showed a group of young girls raising the slogan at the CJP-led demonstration.
The Goa unit said the party respects all religions, castes and communities.
What to watch
The protest at Connaught Place Central Park is set for October 16, with the Delhi Police on record that they will regulate it and act against the organisers if needed. The Supreme Court's notices on the petitions against the SIR exercise and the detentions mean those challenges now move forward in the top court, keeping both the electoral revision and the policing of the protests under judicial scrutiny in the days ahead.
