A Muslim man who volunteered at the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar has alleged that police detained him and his father.
Junaid, a resident of Nahal village in Ghaziabad, was not one of the CJP’s public speakers or office-bearers. His job at the protest site was to arrange food, drinking water and basic supplies for the demonstrators, and protesters came to know him as “Junaid Bhai.”
He alleged that police personnel visited his family home in Ghaziabad and searched the premises. According to his family, his father, Mustafa, was taken away, and documents including bank passbooks and PAN cards were seized.
Junaid’s sister alleged that police wanted their father to call him and ask him to return from Delhi. The family also alleged that relatives in Meerut were harassed. Meerut Police denied detaining or taking action against Junaid’s relatives, saying that checks with police stations in the district found no such record.
The CJP said that the alleged action against Junaid’s family was an attempt to intimidate people supporting the protest. CJP spokespersons stressed that pressure was being exerted on his family to force him to withdraw from the agitation.
Junaid described his own alleged detention in these words: “They detained me. My paper was around 5:30 pm, and paramedical exam paper was allegedly being sold for Rs550,000.”
He said, “As soon as we came out and walked barely 50-60 meters, they suddenly stopped us. At first, I thought they were anti-social elements trying to attack us. Then they said, ‘Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. We are from the Delhi Police.'”
He said he and the others with him could not identify the men. “We couldn’t see their faces clearly, nor could we note the registration number of their vehicle. When they took us away, there was a white Scorpio SUV.”
He alleged that the men questioned him about the protest’s funding. “They kept questioning us, asking, ‘How is all this happening? Where is the funding coming from? How are you managing to do so much work?'”
He narrated that when he asked where they had been taken, the men told him, “Mussoorie, Uttarakhand.”
Junaid also alleged that his father was detained days before him. “Two or three days earlier, around 5 p.m., my father was having dinner when they took him away. Under which section of the Constitution is feeding someone food and water considered a crime? Where is this written? How can these things be called illegal? You cannot say that helping people is a crime.”
He said the protesters had no political motive. “We stood there for the country’s interest and for the students’ rights because they deserved justice. We were not there for politics. We were there because a positive movement was taking place, one that was in the nation’s interest and in the interest of education.”
He added, “If doing this is considered a crime, then I will commit this crime not just once, but a thousand times.”
The CJP protest ran for 49 days and became known for using humour, satire and social media videos to draw attention to its demands. It began over irregularities and paper leaks in competitive exams, including the NEET controversy, and later widened into a campaign for broader examination reforms.
The agitation ended on July 25 after the government accepted the CJP’s key demands. These included compensation for the families of students who died by suicide, withdrawal of cases against protesters, and consideration of the CJP’s five-point reform charter.
The protest was called off after Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned, meeting the CJP’s central demand.
