Delhi Police released four Hindu Raksha Dal workers on Tuesday, just 48 hours after arresting them for assaulting demonstrators at Jantar Mantar. The release followed the October 10 incident where videos circulated online showing the group beating a young man and dragging a woman across the street. Police had detained the four individuals after Congress and Aam Aadmi Party shared the footage, which also showed uniformed officers standing by without intervening.
The post-release scene was far from subdued. One of the accused was seen receiving a garland and a shower of flowers from supporters, including Hindu Raksha Dal President Pinki Chaudhary. In the viral clip, the man smiled broadly and shouted that "the cockroaches will be dealt with in the same way again." The comment referred directly to the protesters targeted in the original attack.
The violence occurred in the wake of significant legal changes to Delhi's protest landscape. The Government of India recently de-notified Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site, a move heavily criticized by opposition groups. CJP co-conveners Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka attempted to stage a protest at the site on Tuesday alongside in-charge Ajinkya Shinde. Police promptly detained them, citing the new notification.
Congress accused the state of shielding "RSS-BJP goons" who operate with impunity. The party highlighted the police inaction during the initial assault as evidence of institutional bias. "The video shows goons knocking a girl to the ground and beating her while the police just watches the spectacle," the party stated in a social media post.
With Jantar Mantar no longer a protected protest zone, legal avenues for public dissent in central Delhi have narrowed sharply. The CJP leadership plans to continue staging protests despite the de-notification, describing their actions as an act of resistance against the state's crackdown on dissent.