NEW DLEHI: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke was taken into preventive detention shortly after leaving the residence where he was staying to attend the ‘Tiranga Yatra’ at Delhi’s Connaught Place (CP).As Dipke left the residence of NCP-SCP spokesperson Anish Gawande, a police official told him, “We are placing you under preventive detention. Section 163 is in force in Connaught Place. You are being detained.”Section 163 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) restricts gatherings or specific activities in a designated area.
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“I’m alone, what law did I break,” Dipke asked before he was detained.According to officials, a notice issued on behalf of the New Delhi district authorities under the Delhi Police Act directed people not to visit Central Park, citing the restrictions in force under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).A second notice was issued to Dipke by the South West Delhi authorities, reminding him that he, along with CJP co-conveners Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, had previously been ‘bound down’ (placed under a legal undertaking) after their preventive detention at the airport and subsequent production before a court.The court had directed them to refrain from causing any public disturbance for a period of one year.Earlier today, Dipke defended the party’s protests, asserting that peaceful demonstrations were a democratic right. He accused the government of restricting citizens’ freedoms and disrupting business activities through shutdowns, Internet suspensions and movement restrictions.
