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In a scathing attack on the Central government and Delhi Police over the decision to remove Jantar Mantar as an authorised demonstration site, a Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) activist on Tuesday termed the move a blatant assault on constitutional rights, calling it a "de-notification of democracy itself."
This comes after Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) activist Saurav Das along with Ashutosh Ranka and 12 others from Jantar Mantar and brought them to the Jaffarpur Kalan police station, their legal counsel, an advocate, said. Addressing a press conference, Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) activist Mehr Parsicha asserted that public spaces belong to all citizens and cannot be commandeered by the state to silence dissent. "The Cockroaches have shown that this country does not belong to just one person. Jantar Mantar does not belong to one individual; Jantar Mantar belongs to all of us. Today, they showed that you cannot simply snatch away our rights," she said. Criticising the heavy security arrangements across Central Delhi, she questioned the deployment of massive paramilitary and police forces to curb peaceful gatherings. "For so many days, Jantar Mantar and Central Delhi have been turned into a fortress. Security forces have been pulled from borders all across and deployed here just to stop a demonstration. What absurdity is this? Do our armed forces50,000 of themhave nothing better to do than guard a protest site against a peaceful gathering?" she questioned. Accusing the authorities of deliberately pushing dissenting voices away from the power corridors of the capital, she remarked sarcastically, "You want to push the voice of the people far away from Jantar Mantaras far as possible. Move it even further then! Move it to Punjab, or put the protest site on top of some Himalayan peak and let people gather there." Mehr Parsicha claimed that the group had approached the local police station in an effort to comply with protocol after being informed about the requirement of a 10-day prior notice. "We went peacefully and told them, 'You give us a datein one day, five days, six days, ten days, or eleven days. You tell us when we should go to Jantar Mantar, and we will hold our demonstration accordingly.' But miraculously, no senior police officerneither the ACP nor the SHOwas available to speak with us. And barely 30 minutes after we walked out, a press release was issued announcing that Jantar Mantar had been de-notified," she claimed. Directly holding the top leadership of the Central government responsible for the move, she alleged that Delhi Police was acting under political directives from the Ministry of Home Affairs. "Delhi Police falls under the Union Home Ministry. Let me name the people who are taking these decisions: Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Tanashah (dictators)! It cannot work like thisthat you simply wake up one morning and snatch away an iconic protest site from the citizens," she added. (ANI)
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