Indian court releases 'cockroach' movement leaders from detention

NEW DELHI, Oct 11, 2026 (AFP) -The founder of India's youth-led online "cockroach" movement and two other leaders were released on Sunday, their lawyer said, a day after they were detained to thwart a major protest against the election commissioner.     

The group said thousands of protesters were detained before Saturday's planned demonstration in New Delhi, the culmination of weeks of opposition mobilisation following allegations of misconduct during a nationwide voter roll revision.     

Abhijeet Dipke and two other Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders were detained before they could disembark from their flight after arriving in the capital from Mumbai.     

Ratna Singh, the CJP's head lawyer, said in a social media post that Dipke and the others had been released by an executive magistrate's court.     

She said they had been released on the condition that they made "no breach of peace for one year".