India’s Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has threatened to resume a nationwide protest if the government goes back on its assurance to drop police complaints against student demonstrators who forced the nation’s education minister to resign over examination paper leaks.
The country’s top court on Tuesday, while hearing a batch of petitions, ordered that state governments should release all detained protestors age 18 and below and that no coercive action should be taken, provided they do not have a criminal record. The authorities could proceed with their investigation, the interim order said.
It contradicts the assurance extended by India’s federal government that all police complaints against the protesters would be withdrawn, CJP spokesperson Saurav Das said in a post on social media platform X.
Abhijeet Dipke, the founder and leader of the CJP, said in a separate post that the party would “respond with a massive peaceful protest soon” if students are harassed by the police.
The CJP, which began as a satirical movement, mobilized thousands of students and young people in New Delhi seeking the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the national medical exam paper leak.
On July 20, police used tear gas and batons to prevent protesters from marching toward Parliament, fueling anger that eventually led to Pradhan’s resignation. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi — who took to Instagram to speak directly to the youth — announced a stricter law against paper leaks that Parliament is debating.
