Thousands of students detained ahead of Delhi's Jantar Mantar protest planned on October 10

Monitoring Desk: Over 5,000 students have been arrested throughout India as they were travelling to Delhi's Jantar Mantar for the October 10 protest, reports India media. Police are present at intercity bus stands, railway stations, and even at rental car points across more than 200 cities throughout India, managing to stop young people from travelling towards the Indian capital. The heavy government crackdown is supported by legal barriers, as courts are not providing relief to arrested persons, and their bail applications are being rejected ahead of October 10, 2026. It may be remembered that the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) will hold a fresh protest on October 10 at Jantar Mantar in **Delhi** if Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar does not resign over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke announced this on Friday, saying that the deletion of votes from electoral rolls targets minorities, with Muslim voters being the biggest victims. Joint Commissioner of Police Nupur Prasad officially announced that Delhi Police had denied permission for the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) October 10 demonstration. Authorities cited a failure to meet the mandatory 10-day advance notice requirement and noted that the group had breached compliance terms during previous agitations. The Delhi High Court refused an urgent hearing requested by the Indian Youth Congress (IYC), which sought to challenge restrictions and secure legal clearance for the Jantar Mantar protest. The bench deferred the matter to October 12, effectively bypassing the protest date. The central government has deployed 221 Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) companies, totalling roughly 23,000 personnel, along with additional female paramilitary forces, to heavily fortify Delhi's borders and sensitive central areas. Prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS (banning unlawful assemblies) are strictly in place near Jantar Mantar. In an unusual preventive measure, the Delhi government ordered all liquor stores to shut down on October 9 and 10 to maintain public order. Frontline organisers, including CJP co-convener Ashutosh Ranka, have taken to social media to allege widespread state detentions. CJP leadership claims that thousands of young volunteers travelling from states such as Telangana, Pune, and Rajasthan have been intercepted by regional police forces en route to Delhi. Despite the bans and security clampdowns, CJP leaders such as Saurav Das and founder Abhijeet Dipke maintain that the protest will go ahead peacefully. Organisers have stated that if the police halt their march, whatever location they are stopped at will dynamically transform into their new protest site. Almost all major universities in India are facing distress as the BJP has allegedly ordered RSS activists to attack students who are planning to reach Delhi on October 10. The RSS has also started holding Vande Mataram seminars at Indian universities to encourage Hindu students to demonstrate their strength, sending a message to minority students that the RSS can make their lives miserable if it so wishes. The Central University of Kerala has suspended five students over protests against a Vande Mataram seminar organised in association with an RSS-affiliated organisation. Protesters accused the administration of saffronising the campus.