Train cancellations, proposed metro restrictions and thousands of security personnel will shape Delhi’s response to the CJP protest demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and a halt to the electoral-roll revision. The central question is whether public-order concerns are being used to prevent peaceful political dissent.
BY PC Bureau
October 9: The crackdown began before protesters could reach Delhi. On the night of 8 October, people travelling to the capital were reportedly pulled off trains at intermediate stations, while police turned up at the homes of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) volunteers. The protest they were trying to attend at Jantar Mantar was still two days away.
The most clearly documented incident involved the Goa Express. On 8 October, a group travelling from Pune to Delhi for the Jantar Mantar mobilisation was stopped at Itarsi in Madhya Pradesh. Nai Dunia and Dainik Bhaskar reported that district police, the Government Railway Police (GRP) and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) surrounded the train and removed more than 15 CJP activists—around 12 men and three women—before taking them away in vans.
One woman alleged that officers pulled at her clothes and that no women police personnel were present. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, responding to the incident in comments carried by Bhaskar, asked why the government did not simply declare an Emergency.
A second group of activists and students faced intervention along the same route. The All India Students’ Federation (AISF) said GRP officers attempted to deboard its Pune contingent at Bhusawal in Maharashtra that morning but backed off when the students demanded a warrant or written order. At Itarsi, the federation said, around 22 women students were detained and taken to a hotel. Those identified included Pune coordinator Shravani Buva and committee member Preeti Londhe. The Hindu reported the students’ account and carried video related to the incident.
AISF Maharashtra president Vaibhav Chopkar condemned the action as an attempt to suppress the student movement and demanded that the authorities disclose the students’ whereabouts.
Hindustan Times, citing GRP sources, reported that Mumbai Police had asked railway police to check trains bound for New Delhi and remove passengers travelling to participate in the protest. Journalist Piyush Rai posted that dozens of students aboard the Goa Express had been detained at Itarsi. Saurav Das, CJP co-convenor, quote-posted his report with the sarcastic remark: “Modi winning Gen Z’s hearts!” In another post that morning, Das wrote simply: “Dark days of Emergency.”
CJP’s broader claim, reported by Scroll, is that at least 10,000 people have been detained across India ahead of the 10 October mobilisation. That figure remains the party’s assertion, not an independently verified count. The incidents documented by local reporters and AISF are more specific: the removal of passengers at Itarsi, the reported detention of women students at a hotel, and the earlier attempt to stop the student contingent at Bhusawal.
Police at volunteers’ homes
The focus shifted from railway stations to private homes during the night of 8–9 October. Around 1 am on 9 October, CJP leader Saurav Das posted a video that he said showed Delhi Police at the South Extension residence of Mohan Yadav, CJP’s North Zone coordinator.
“It’s 1 AM and the Delhi Police is illegally breaking into our North Zone Coordinator Mohan Yadav’s house in South Extension. They are also misbehaving with his wife. They have two small kids who are currently traumatised! It’s a state of emergency. The government has completely LOST IT!” Das wrote.
In a subsequent post, he described the sounds in another clip as Yadav and his children screaming while being “thrashed”. He alleged that Yadav’s only offence was volunteering for the youth movement.
Das also amplified a post by CJP national spokesperson Sudhir Sangwan alleging that 10–12 police personnel had arrived around 11.30 pm at the Fatehabad, Haryana, home of a volunteer named Roshan. According to Sangwan, villagers asked the officers to produce a detention order, but none was shown. Das labelled the alleged action another example of “dictator” rule.
Modi winning Gen Z’s hearts! 💕
— Saurav Das (@SauravDassss) October 9, 2026
These accounts remain allegations made by Das, Sangwan and local volunteers. The reporting reviewed here does not establish independently that police illegally entered Yadav’s home or that Yadav or Roshan was formally detained. The distinction matters: the video posts and the party’s allegations are on record, but they do not by themselves establish the full circumstances of the encounters.
A third strand involved preventive visits to student accommodation. A video reposted by Das purportedly showed police at paying-guest facilities telling students not to attend the Jantar Mantar protest. Das responded sarcastically: “by doing this, the government has ensured they join the protest lol.” India Today separately reported that Delhi Police had alerted PG accommodation owners and educational institutions and asked them to discourage students from travelling to the demonstration.
Like I said, the Government of India is at war with its own citizens. The visual here proves it. https://t.co/Bn7AnWm9FL
— Saurav Das (@SauravDassss) October 9, 2026
The railway cancellations came amid the reports of deboarding and detention. Mail and express trains departing their originating stations after 2 pm on 9 October and scheduled to arrive at New Delhi or Hazrat Nizamuddin between 4 am and 2 pm on 10 October are being cancelled at source. The Howrah and Sealdah Rajdhani services departing on 9 October were also reported cancelled.
READ: Delhi Braces for CJP Protest: Mail/Express Trains Cancelled, Metro Faces Closure, Liquor Shops Shut
The Railways have cited anticipated road congestion around the two stations. Das, however, interpreted the cancellations as an attempt to prevent demonstrators from reaching the capital. “The Emperor is so scared that he has cancelled trains coming to Delhi tomorrow! But for how many days can they do this?” he posted. Invoking the images of migrant workers walking home during the Covid lockdown, he suggested that protesters would walk to Delhi if necessary.
Delhi Police has also asked the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to close entry and exit gates at 57 stations from 9 pm on 9 October until the situation normalises, and to consider reducing train frequency. The request does not amount to a shutdown of the entire metro network, but the restrictions could significantly disrupt movement across the capital. Das described the proposed measures as “a Delhi Bandh”, adding: “Hilarious!”
The scale of the deployment reflects the authorities’ assessment of the potential mobilisation. The Union Home Ministry has provided Delhi Police with 221 companies of Central Armed Police Forces—around 23,000 personnel—for deployment from 8 to 12 October. The contingents reportedly include personnel drawn from Jammu, West Bengal and anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh. With an additional 15,000–20,000 Delhi Police personnel, published estimates of the combined deployment range from the high 30,000s to around 43,000. ThePrint and Outlook have described the operation as larger than the security response to the July CJP agitation and the 2020–21 farmers’ protests.
The sequence is striking. Before the protest could begin, activists were reportedly removed from trains in Madhya Pradesh; police visits to volunteers’ homes were alleged in Delhi and Haryana; and the transport links into the capital came under sweeping restrictions. Permission for the Jantar Mantar gathering had already been refused.
The authorities cite notice requirements, previous non-compliance and the prospect of disruption. CJP sees a coordinated effort to prevent its supporters from assembling. The reported incidents raise a central question: how far can the state go in restricting movement and pre-empting a political demonstration before public-order concerns become a means of suppressing the right to protest?
