At least three activists of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) were allegedly detained at different places in Rajasthan on Friday (October 9, 2026) ahead of the outfit’s protest scheduled at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. The CJP alleged that Rajasthan police were harassing its office-bearers and preventing them from going to Delhi.

CJP’s organisational co-in-charge Deepak Baliyan was picked up from his residence at Mankheda village in Alwar district. Party co-convener Ashutosh Ranka said the policemen manhandled Mr. Baliyan despite his fractured leg.

Mr. Baliyan alleged that the police seized his mobile phone and slippers without a memo and forced him to sign in writing that he was not thrashed by them. He was driven for a distance of 100 km being he was dropped back at his house, but a large number of policemen were deployed to restrict his movements.

Mr. Ranka said in a post on X that the Rajasthan police were not working for the people of the State any more. “Mr. Baliyan was dragged and his brother was beaten up badly. He was recovering from a leg fracture,” Mr. Ranka said.

However, the police said a team from Kathumar police station had only gone to Mr. Baliyan’s residence to explain to him that prohibitory orders under Section 163 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita were in force in Delhi.

CJP activist Sanju Verma was allegedly kept under police vigilance at a canteen near a police station at Reengus in Sikar district throughout the day, even as about 100 of his supporters waited outside. He was released in the evening after a warning.

Mr. Verma was one of the activists injured in an attack during the CJP’s inspection of a primary school at Rampura-Kanwarpura village near Jaipur as part of the organisation’s ‘School Thik Karo’ campaign on August 21.

A Dalit activist, Geegraj Jodli, attached to the CJP, had had a police force outside his residence in Neem Ka Thana since early morning. Mr. Jodli said he was unofficially put under a “house arrest” and the policemen were refusing to let him leave for his work.

The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) condemned the restrictions placed by the police on the movement of activists. “The brazen misuse of police to prevent the people from reaching Delhi shows how undemocratic the State has become… We reject this intimidation,” PUCL national president Kavita Srivastava said.

As many as nine trains crossing Rajasthan were among those bound for New Delhi and Hazrat Nizamuddin railway stations, which were cancelled by the railways anticipating heavy traffic congestion around the stations. The cancelled trains included two running to Delhi from Udaipur and Sriganganagar.

Ahead of the October 10 protest in Delhi, several groups, including the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), on Thursday (October 8, 2026) alleged that protesters were being picked up from across the country.

“This government has crossed all limits now. A group of students from Pune was on its way to Delhi to join the October 10 protest. They have been detained midway and are now being taken away in a bus to an unknown location,” the CJP stated.

The CJP also shared a video purportedly showing youth inside a moving bus in Madhya Pradesh. One of the youth could be heard saying they have been detained by the Madhya Pradesh police.

CJP co-convener Ashutosh Ranka said Deepak Baliyan, the organisation’s co-in-charge, had been detained in Rajasthan. He claimed that thousands of volunteers had been detained in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

‘Peaceful protesters’

“In Kolkata, Abdul and his team were picked up by people in plainclothes and taken to undisclosed locations. These States have become completely crime-free, and hence the police are busy detaining peaceful students,” Mr. Ranka said.

Meanwhile, the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), one of five Left organisations that jointly called for the October 10 protest, alleged that police personnel had been visiting activists’ homes and intimidating their families to prevent them from travelling to Delhi.

‘Vote chori’

“Since last night, the police have been visiting the homes of activists associated with SFI and other democratic organisations, detaining them and intimidating their families in an attempt to prevent them from travelling to Delhi for the October 10 protest against ‘vote chori’,” the SFI said in a statement.

The organisation said those detained included Arif, its Saharanpur district convener, and Daud Rao, a leader of the All India Kisan Sabha. It also alleged that activists were being pressured to disclose information, including addresses and personal details.