BJP states must immediately release detained protesters, drop FIRs, demands CJP

The Cockroach Janta Party political campaign on Monday demanded that the states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance must immediately release protesters who were detained or arrested during the agitation last week.

The campaign said that the states must also withdraw the first information reports filed against protesters. “Further necessary steps” will be taken if the government fails to adhere to its promise, it said in a statement.

The campaign said that it was concerned by reports that demonstrators had been “targeted, detained or arrested” by state agencies in BJP-ruled Assam, Bihar and West Bengal.

CJP asks government to honour its promise

The Cockroach Janta Party said that it had on Saturday withdrawn its call for a nationwide protest only after the Union government assured it that “no punitive action would be taken against any protester, either now or in the future, in any BJP-ruled or NDA-ruled” states.

It urged the Union government, and ministers JP Nadda and Jitendra Singh 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 protester anywhere in the country”.

Nadda and Singh had represented the government during its talks with the campaign.

The Cockroach Janta Party said that it...

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