Warns of legal action if promises not kept
NEW DELHI: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Monday expressed concern over arrests of protestors in Assam, Bengal and Bihar despite government assurance that no punitive action will be taken.
The organisation urged Centre to ensure their immediate release and withdrawal of FIRs.
In a post on X, chief CJP spokesperson Saurav Das said, “Such breach of trust will be completely unacceptable to the youth,” while asserting that the party had called off its nationwide protest after the government assured that no punitive action would be taken against protesters.
“We are deeply concerned by multiple reports reaching us of students and other protesters being targeted, detained, or arrested by various state agencies, particularly in Assam, Bengal, and Bihar,” Das said.
Assuring protesters of legal support, Das said, “First, we wish to assure every protestor that our legal team is already coordinating with brilliant lawyers in the concerned states to secure the release of those detained and to extend all possible legal assistance. This has been happening from Day 1.”
He further said, “Second, we call upon the Government of India, particularly JPNadda ji and DrJitendraSingh ji, to immediately honour the assurance given to us by ensuring the release of those detained and by directing that no coercive or retaliatory action is taken against any protestor anywhere in the country. The FIRs registered ought to be withdrawn too.”
The CJP asked the BJP government to provide a written guarantee by Tuesday, 28 July 2026. Das added that the party would consider “further necessary steps” if those detained were not released and the FIRs were not withdrawn.
The CJP ended its 36-day protest on 25 July (Saturday) after the Centre accepted several of its key demands, including examination reforms, and education minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned.
The organisation said the government’s commitments must now be implemented in both letter and spirit.
Ashutosh Ranka, CJP spokesperson also accused the government of breaching a no-police-action agreement by arresting hundreds of students.
Ranka demanded immediate release of students, withdrawal of all FIRs nationwide, and sharing of the written agreement by the next day or CJP will restart protests, highlighting enforcement tensions post-settlement.
“We demand that all the FIRs against the protestors be immediately withdrawn, students be released and no future FIRs be filed (in line with our agreement) by Delhi police / Central investigative agencies / Police in BJP-allied states, FAILING WHICH WE WILL BE FORCED TO SIT ON PROTEST AGAIN,” Ranka wrote on X.
AISA National President Neha Bora said, “The Union government had assured that no cases would be filed against students protesting against the paper leak and that the existing cases would be withdrawn. However, hundreds of students remain in jail across Bihar. Arresting students and invoking serious charges such as attempt to murder against them for protesting is unacceptable. The government must honour its assurance and withdraw all cases against the protesters; otherwise, Bihar, too, will witness protests similar to those in Delhi.”
They issued a statement on Saturday saying that they were bringing their protests to an end, cheering what they portrayed as a victory in the struggle with Modi’s government.
“All our demands have been accepted, so we request the protesters to withdraw immediately and return home peacefully,” Saurav Das told reporters.
“We had demanded compensation of Rs 1 crore for the families of NEET victims. The government has agreed to this, stating that an honorary compensation will be given to those families under whatever rules and regulations allow.
Apart from this, we also placed a five-point demand charter before the government, which talked about broader educational reforms and exam reforms. We will meet the government again in about four weeks regarding that demand charter…” Das said.
Several first information reports (FIRs) have been filed against protesters across India after the July 20 ‘Chalo Sansad’ march at Jantar Mantar. The CJP said the government has agreed to withdraw the FIRs.
“Our second demand was that all the FIRs filed against the protesters, not just in Delhi but in all BJP-ruled and BJP-allied states, should be withdrawn. This was also our second demand. The government has accepted that demand as well. Furthermore, the withdrawal will be done shortly. The government has assured us that it will share copies of all the FIRs filed – as per our last information, 15 to 20 FIRs were filed in Delhi – and we will receive those copies within three to four days in any case. The government has also assured that the withdrawal will be done shortly,” Das said.
He said on Saturday the CJP has shared a draft in the form of a written guarantee with the government. “The government has said it will share this with us by Tuesday. We hope that by Tuesday we will receive the government’s guarantees regarding these FIRs and any future action.”
The protest at Jantar Mantar began on June 6 and gained wider attention after Ladakh activist Sonam Wangchuk joined with an indefinite hunger strike on June 28, which ended on 23 July (Thursday) night after 26 days.
Agencies