India’s “Cockroach Party” leaders released from detention, demand resignation of country’s election chief

Leaders of the Cockroach Janata Party, an Indian youth movement, were released Sunday, a day after they were detained ahead of protests against a contentious revision of voter lists. The movement is demanding the resignation of the country’s election chief.

The three leaders — Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka — were freed on condition that they commit “no breach of peace for one year,” Ratna Singh, the movement’s legal director, said in a social media post. It was unclear what the condition meant or whether it would restrict their participation in protests.

Police had boarded the leaders’ flight from Mumbai after it landed in New Delhi on Saturday and took them into custody as they prepared to lead a demonstration in New Delhi.

Authorities have launched a sweeping security crackdown in the capital, detaining more than 2,000 protesters, including several opposition lawmakers. Train services to the capital were canceled, metro stations closed and mobile internet suspended in parts of the city.

Most of those detained were released late Saturday, police said.

After his release, Dipke called Prime Minister Narendra Modi “an embarrassment to India.”

“Never has this country seen a bigger coward and bully,” he wrote on X.