India
oi-Gaurav Sharma
Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) activists Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka have approached the Delhi High Court challenging the order extending their judicial custody till October 21, saying that it violates their right to freedom of movement.
The activists have moved the court against the order of the special executive magistrate (SEM), who kept them in judicial custody after rejecting the sureties filed by them. The party’s counsel, Ratna Singh, mentioned that they would move for an expedited hearing and seek to list the matter for hearing on October 20.
CJP activists Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka challenged their judicial custody extension until October 21 in the Delhi High Court, arguing the Special Executive Magistrate’s order violates their freedom of movement rights after their arrest for trespassing at Jantar Mantar.
Das and Ranka were arrested by the Delhi Police on October 13 for trespassing the barricaded protest zone at Jantar Mantar. The activists were sent to judicial custody for five days on October 14. Further their judicial custody was extended for two more days by the SEM on October 19.
In the order extending the judicial custody of the activists, the magistrate expressed apprehensions about their misbehavior and breach of peace. The order stated that the assurance given by the activists not to repeat the alleged misadventure, was not satisfactory due to their “persistent” statements inviting people to hold protests at de-notified areas.
Further, the magistrate’s order mentioned that the sureties filed by the activists had been rejected due to questions on their identity and ability to secure the appearance of the petitioners before the court. The photograph of one of the sureties did not match with the photograph on the PAN card and Aadhaar of Das. Further, one of the sureties was unable to answer any personal questions pertained to Das. The other surety failed to give any information about Ranka.
The activists challenged the extension of their judicial custody
while moving the Delhi High Court. The activists have stated that they have been kept in judicial custody for six days even after filing sureties. They have argued that the order of the SEM is erroneous and violates their right to freedom of movement, as the order’s extension of custody “amounts to failure to execute bond”.
The activists have alleged that the SEM has mechanically accepted the police’s request for extending their custody without examining if their continued detention was necessary to serve the larger public interest. The petition stated that a protest at a de-notified area should be viewed as a regulatory matter and not “as involving breach of tranquillity or public order, unless there is justification for such a finding”.
While arguing that their life liberty and right to movement should not be curtailed, the activists’ plea stated that “That a restraint on the liberty of the Petitioners founded on an apprehension of breach of tranquillity or public order and attributed to them, must satisfy the test of Article 19(3) of the Constitution”.
