Published Oct 11, 2026 | 1:56 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 11, 2026 | 2:56 PM
SFI leaders alleged that the police physically assaulted the detainees.
Synopsis: Students and Left organisations resumed protests in Delhi on October 11, demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The Delhi Police detained hundreds of protesters, including CPI(M) MP John Brittas and SFI leaders. SFI leaders alleged that the police physically assaulted the detainees, including Brittas and Saji.
Students and Left organisations resumed protests demanding the sacking of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Delhi on Sunday, 11 October, a day after police cracked down heavily on protests led by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP).
Demonstrators gathered at Connaught Place, while the Delhi Police detained hundreds of activists, Students’ Federation of India (SFI) national president Adarsh M Saji and Delhi State secretary Sooraj Elamon, as they marched towards Jantar Mantar.
SFI leaders alleged that the police physically assaulted the detainees, including CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas and Saji. AISF national functionary Dinesh has also allegedly been beaten by the police in Delhi.
SFI leaders alleged that the police physically assaulted the detainees, including CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas
Sreejan Bhattacharya, SFI secretary, said Saji, Elamon, SFI Central Executive Committee member Abhijith Manilal and hundreds of other activists were attacked and detained at Rajiv Chowk while marching towards Jantar Mantar. He said Saji was bleeding from his forehead.
The SFI said the detainees were taken to undisclosed locations.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court, during a special Sunday sitting to hear petitions arising from the Delhi Police’s handling of the protests, directed that “there shall be no detention of any individual except in accordance with the procedure established by law”, particularly of peaceful and unarmed people outside areas where prohibitory orders were in force.
Delhi witnessed its biggest security lockdown since the COVID-19 pandemic ahead of the protests on Saturday.
More than 26,000 police personnel were deployed across the city, barricades were erected at several locations, and the police prepared 12 detention centres. These centres began filling up as the day progressed.
By Saturday evening, around 3,000 people had been taken into custody. Some of those detained were travelling to Delhi by train.
The restrictions extended across the capital. Forty-five Metro stations were shut, internet services were suspended, student neighbourhoods were barricaded, and police personnel were deployed outside major campuses. Bus services and cab movement into Connaught Place were severely curtailed. The authorities also regulated long-distance trains arriving in Delhi and imposed prohibitory orders.
Among those detained was former Kerala Chief Minister and senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Pinarayi Vijayan. CPI(M) general secretary MA Baby and several others accompanying him were also taken into custody.
Before CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke was detained, several CPI(M) central committee members staying at Kerala House, on the same road as Jantar Mantar, attempted to march towards the protest site.
The protests sought Kumar’s resignation and the withdrawal of the SIR, which Opposition parties have alleged has deprived crores of citizens of their right to vote. The Congress has called for a mass mobilisation in Delhi on Monday.
(Edited by Dese Gowda with inputs from Sreelakshmi Soman)
