The Court of Special Executive Magistrate at Delhi Cantt ordered the release of Cockroach Janta Party leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das on Sunday, about 24 hours after Delhi Police detained them from a flight at Indira Gandhi International Airport before a planned Jantar Mantar protest.

They were produced before Special Executive Magistrate Sanghamitra after being preventively arrested under Sections 126 and 170 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and were freed after furnishing surety bonds of ₹50,000 each to maintain peace and good behaviour for one year.

According to Delhi Police, the arrests were made on October 10 and all due legal procedures were followed before production before the SEM Court, Delhi Cantt.

Their counsel Soutik Banerjee confirmed the release. "All three of them have been released. They can leave from here now," he said, adding that police offered no grounds for continued detention .

The release came amid a sweeping clampdown in New Delhi, where police said more than 7,000 people were detained on Saturday as opposition leaders and protesters tried to reach Jantar Mantar. The CJP has been demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

Detained inside the aircraft

Dipke, Ranka and Das had flown from Mumbai on Saturday morning to lead the protest, for which Delhi Police had denied permission. Police entered the aircraft shortly after landing at 10.19 am and took them into custody, a move the leaders later called an "abduction".

While Dipke went to Maharashtra for his grandmother's funeral, Ranka and Das alleged at a press conference that police seized their phones without following legal procedure, including preparing a seizure memo, and took them to different locations before refusing them access to lawyers. They also said no paperwork was shown at the time of detention.

"They picked us up as if we were criminals. They took our phones forcibly," Das told reporters. He said the devices were retained for 24 hours and could have been "cloned" or "planted with evidence".

Police deployed more than 30,000 personnel across the capital. Former chief ministers Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee, Pinarayi Vijayan and Manik Sarkar were also detained while attempting to join the protest, as was YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, who described his detention as a "kidnapping". Opposition parties described the action as an Emergency-like clampdown, while the police called the measures necessary to prevent public disorder.

Peace bond under preventive arrest provisions

Two preventive provisions were invoked. Section 126 of the BNSS empowers an executive magistrate to ask a person likely to breach the peace to execute a peace bond for up to one year. Section 170 permits warrantless arrest to prevent a cognizable offence, with custody limited to 24 hours unless further detention is authorised. An executive magistrate is a government-appointed officer with administrative and law-and-order duties. The proceedings were preventive and concerned the requirement to maintain peace and good behaviour.

Police maintained that all due procedures were followed and that the leaders were produced before the SEM Court. The defence disputed this; Banerjee said the police's ground was that the three could "commit" a crime if not detained, but no grounds for further custody were given.

The CJP clarified that the bond did not bar peaceful protest. "No CJP leader has signed any bond that says they will not protest any more. The bond refers to refraining of breach of peace . But participating in a peaceful protest is a Constitutional right and DOES NOT breach peace," the party said.

Ranka accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of cowardice and said the clampdown had damaged the country's image, describing how peaceful protesters were picked up and manhandled at a designated protest site. He called the action a brazen display of dictatorship. The CJP vowed to continue protesting until Gyanesh Kumar resigns.

Judicial scrutiny and next steps

The Supreme Court of India was scheduled to hold a special sitting on Sunday to hear a petition challenging the preventive detention of leaders, former chief ministers, students, journalists and lawyers, alleging violations of the rule of law and democratic dissent. It was also expected to take up a contempt petition over the alleged blanket suspension of public transport, rail and Metro services.

On Saturday , a Delhi court dismissed CJP legal affairs head Ratna Singh's plea for an FIR against police for allegedly confining her. Singh said police kept her on a street for nine hours. "I kept asking for the reason for detention and they said they got orders from the top. Who will take accountability for these orders?" she asked.

CJP leaders said they will approach Parliament Street police station at 10 am Monday to seek a date for another Jantar Mantar protest. " Delhi police can give us a date within 24 hours, or we will announce our own protest call," the party said.

For now, the three leaders are out of custody but bound by the one-year peace condition. The legal challenge over the scale and manner of the detentions, however, is only beginning.