Madhya Pradesh Police detain 14 students heading to Delhi for CJP protest, cite ‘orders from above’

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Police claimed that the students were released on Friday,October 9, 2026, but refused to leave the private hotel they were kept in. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement

The Madhya Pradesh Government Railway Police (GRP) have detained 14 students at Itarsi Junction railway station. The students were travelling from Pune to attend the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)’s protest scheduled for October 10 in New Delhi, the police said on Friday (October 9, 2026).

The students are reportedly members of the All India Students Federation (AISF). The CJP has called for a protest at Jantar Mantar to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over allegations of irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Senior police officers, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they detained the students during searches of trains heading towards Delhi following “orders from above”. They, however, claimed that the students were released on Friday but refused to leave the private hotel they were kept in.

Meanwhile, the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Friday issued notices to the State and police authorities and asked them to produce the students before it on or before October 13.

The habeas corpus petition was filed by the family of two of the 14 students detained. The court also directed the authorities to make arrangements for the safe return of the students to their families.

A high-ranking GRP officer told The Hindu that the students were detained on Thursday (October 8) evening under Section 172 (persons bound to conform to lawful directions of the police) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, and taken to a hotel.

The officer, however, said he could not discuss the matter further as “everything was done based on orders from above”.

A GRP officer in Itarsi said the students were picked up from the Goa Express because they did not have permission to join the protest.

When asked if a citizen needed permission to attend a protest, the officer said, “Of course, they do. There has to be a system to stop all this. And we acted as per the orders we received.”

Multiple videos, including police forcibly removing students from the train, have gone viral.

The CJP shared a video on X showing the detained students being taken in a bus and said, “SOS. This government has crossed ALL limits now. A group of students from Pune was on its way to Delhi to join the 10 October protest. They have been detained midway and are now being taken away in a bus to an unknown location. Where are they being taken? Who ordered this?”

The AISF also slammed the “illegal detention”. “Detention won’t silence us…Onwards 10th Oct!” it said on X.