India launches voter roll purge

Indian authorities purged over 130 million people from voter rolls without due process.

Protesters demand election commissioner resignation

Demonstrators demand Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign over voter roll irregularities.

Cockroach Janata Party mobilizes

Cockroach Janata Party organized protests demanding Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resign.

Police detain protest leaders

Delhi police detained CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and other leaders on arrival at airport.

Protest site barricaded

Police barricaded Jantar Mantar protest site and imposed city-wide lockdown.

Protesters detained en route

Protesters were detained while traveling to protest site by police claiming they were lost tourists.

“Everytime the police stopped us on our way here, we told them we are tourists who are lost, so they let us pass by”

Journalists and lawyers detained

Police detained journalists, lawyers, and welfare economist Jean Drèze.

“In almost 50 years of being in India, I have never seen such use of force to quell protests”

Police misinformation

Police told protesters Jantar Mantar is not in Delhi.

“Jantar Mantar is not in Delhi”

Protesters detained arbitrarily

Police detained people without explanation from random city locations.

“I didn’t know anything about the protest, I am in the city for some work with my wife. The police just whisked me away without informing me why”

Right-wing groups harass protesters

Raksha Dal members attacked protesters with police non-intervention.

Spontaneous protests emerge

Protesters formed new demonstration sites after initial crackdown.

Older protesters show solidarity

82-year-old Hansraj Bhutani supported protesters despite Emergency era experience.

“I have lived through the Emergency under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Even then, things weren’t this bad”

Sikh temple detained

Police entered Sikh temple and detained people with brutal force.

“I witnessed at least a dozen people being brutalized while the Delhi police tried to detain them. One 75-year-old woman was brutalized by the police so badly, one of her fingers was dangling off, we had to get her a plastic surgery”

Support network forms

Protest Support Initiative volunteers help detained protesters.

Protesters continue despite crackdown

Protesters vow to continue demonstrations despite police detentions.

“I have been detained almost every day since October 2. I will continue to protest this regime and I will continue to show up on protest sites every day, there is no fear anymore”