CJP’s Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka released from Tihar after promising not to call protests at Jantar Mantar

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were released from Tihar Jail on Wednesday evening, October 21, after a Special Executive Magistrate (SEM) in Delhi accepted their sureties and their written undertakings not to call for protests at Jantar Mantar. SEM Ritu Raj, an Assistant Commissioner of Police acting as executive magistrate, rejected a Delhi Police request to keep the two in judicial custody for three more days.

The two had spent seven days in judicial custody in preventive proceedings over an apprehended breach of the peace. They had signed bonds to keep the peace after being detained at Delhi airport on October 10, and were detained again after they allegedly entered the barricaded Jantar Mantar site carrying the national flag, days after Delhi Police withdrew its status as an authorised protest venue. The CJP has been demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

In their undertakings, Das and Ranka promised not to breach the peace and not to call for protests at Jantar Mantar while its status as a protest site remains withdrawn. The undertaking added: “That we further reiterate that any protest undertaken would be done within the four corners of the Constitution,” The Indian Express reported.

Police had argued that the risk of a breach of the peace persisted. They alleged that the leaders’ submissions in court contradicted their public statements, and cited a media statement made by another member of their group while the two were being taken to Tihar, which police said undermined the court’s authority. Counsel for the two offered a verbal unconditional apology. The magistrate was not persuaded that more custody was needed. “Hence, further judicial custody does not appear to be necessary at this stage, particularly after written undertakings before this Court,” the order stated, India Today reported.

Earlier on Wednesday, as The Indian Idiot reported, the two withdrew their Delhi High Court petition against the October 19 order that had extended their custody, after Justice Subramonium Prasad suggested they wait for the magistrate’s decision. ThePrint noted that the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita bars an executive magistrate from authorising detention for more than seven days in aggregate.

After the release order, Das said: “Truth has triumphed,” Hindustan Times reported. Each must furnish a personal bond and surety of ₹50,000 until the inquiry concludes, attend every hearing and keep the peace. The two and their sureties have been asked to appear before the magistrate on October 23 at 3 pm, when the investigating officer is due to submit a report verifying the sureties.