Student leader Neha Bora was detained yet again in central Delhi on Sunday as demonstrations over alleged electoral fraud entered a hybrid phase, with protesters marching, running, and dodging police before being caught and pushed into buses as reported by NDTV. The Sunday detentions followed a massive Saturday crackdown that saw the detention of at least 3,000 people, including four former chief ministers, to thwart a protest call given by the Cockroach Janta Party and backed by the Opposition.
Bora, the 29-year-old president of the All India Students’ Association and a Jawaharlal Nehru University research scholar, has been repeatedly detained over the past week during protests held by the Left, the Congress-led INDIA bloc, and the CJP (Reuters). After police blocked access to the designated protest site at Jantar Mantar on Saturday, she had urged demonstrators via social media to regroup at Dilli Haat, a crafts market about 10 km away NDTV.
Protests Go Hybrid From Inside Detention Buses
During Sunday’s demonstrations in central Delhi, Bora posted videos from inside a police bus via Instagram, questioning whether detention buses were being turned into jails and accusing central paramilitary forces and police of waging war against common people NDTV. She reiterated demands for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, while the Election Commission has consistently denied allegations of bias NDTV. Demonstrations were also held in other cities on Sunday, including Mumbai.
Crackdown at Dilli Haat and Arrests
On Saturday afternoon, hundreds of protesters—many unaffiliated with any organization—gathered near Dilli Haat through the AIIMS Metro station after failing to reach Jantar Mantar The Hindu. Soon after, police barricaded the Safdarjung flyover as students marched towards the area The Hindu. Police personnel wielding lathis chased and detained demonstrators, dragging many away and shutting the market gates by 4 p.m. The Hindu.
CJP leaders released from detention on Sunday morning stated that the agitation would spread across the country, with CJP co-convener Ashutosh Ranka declaring that the fight had just begun NDTV.
Direct Warnings and Wider Context
In her message, she said, Let us see whether you put Gyanesh Kumar in jail or all the children of India,
adding that the public wants to see what the government will do, and asserting that taking to the streets is the only way to save democracy. She further noted that to do theatre is to understand where a person comes from, tracing her path into politics through theatre and student-led protests against a citizenship law.
