Delhi Police file FIR against 22 protesters following unauthorized demonstration near Minto Road

NEW DELHI — The Delhi Police have registered a first information report against 22 protesters detained at Minto Road during a demonstration organised by constituents of the INDIA bloc.

While the primary opposition rally held at Ramlila Maidan on Sunday had official permission, authorities stated that demonstrators attempted to move toward Jantar Mantar, which is no longer designated as a protest site. The ongoing political tensions stem from a large-scale opposition gathering targeting Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the functioning of the Election Commission of India and the special intensive revision.

Although police did not release official attendance figures, estimates indicate that approximately 50,000 supporters participated in the Ramlila Maidan event. According to investigators, the march toward Jantar Mantar was initiated around 5 pm on Sunday by members of the Disha Students’ Organisation and the Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India (RWPI). Local police personnel and paramilitary forces intercepted the procession at Minto Road, detaining 22 individuals and transporting them in two buses to the Dwarka Sector 23 and Jafarpur Kalan police stations. All detained individuals were released by 2 am on Monday.

The FIR invokes multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Section 223(a) for disobedience of orders, Section 132 for assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from duty, Section 221 for obstructing a public servant, Section 121(1) for voluntarily causing hurt, along with Section 3(5) for common intention and Section 61(2) for criminal conspiracy.

Separately, a protester named Vishal was taken to the Connaught Place police station under preventive detention provisions of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). Produced before the Special Executive Magistrate at Mandir Marg on Monday, he was asked to execute a peace bond. Following his refusal, he was released after furnishing sureties and signing a personal bond.

Organisations affiliated with the march contested the police’s account of events. Members alleged that security personnel forcefully dragged protesters, including women, into buses and that a female demonstrator fainted during the detention process.

Suraj Rait, a member of the RWPI, stated that Vishal, an artist and activist affiliated with the party, endured 23 hours of detention without access to basic medication. Rait maintained that the march from Ramlila Maidan to Jantar Mantar was peaceful, with participants raising slogans to demand the reclamation of Jantar Mantar as a protest site and the scrapping of the special intensive revision. Rait added that authorities attempted to coerce Vishal into signing a peace bond, which he declined to sign on the grounds that no breach of peace had occurred.