Published Oct 11, 2026 | 5:07 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 11, 2026 | 5:12 PM
Detained protesters in cramped compartments inside detention buses.
Synopsis: Delhi Police detained journalists and protesters in several parts of the capital on Sunday, hours after the Supreme Court directed that peaceful and unarmed people must not be detained except in accordance with the law. The crackdown came after Left organisations resumed protests demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. AISA president Neha Bora alleged that detainees were physically assaulted and verbally abused, and confined in cramped cells inside detention buses.
The Delhi Police detained journalists and peaceful protesters for a second consecutive day on Sunday, 11 October, hours after the Supreme Court directed that no individual be detained except in accordance with the procedure established by law, particularly peaceful and unarmed people protesting outside areas where prohibitory orders were in force.
Activists of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the All India Students’ Association (AISA) and the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) were detained at several locations in the capital as they resumed protests demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
AISA president Neha Bora, who was detained on Sunday, alleged that the police had confined protesters in cramped compartments inside detention buses and subjected male protesters to verbal abuse, caste- and religious slurs and physical assault.
“This is the bus. There are wire grilles fitted over the windows. Inside this bus, there are four small cells, which are secured with doors like these, fitted with latches. There is no room to breathe. Glass panes are fitted on the other side of the grilles. People are sitting here on the floor,” she said in a video posted on X.
“All the male protesters have been verbally abused. They were hurled with whatever insults came to mind—about their mothers, sisters, caste, and religion. They were kicked in their private parts. As for the women, they have been crammed into these individual jail-like compartments that they have created inside four separate buses, with eight or six women packed into each one. Is this the entire motive of the Delhi Police and the CRPF—to turn detention buses into jails even before the detention itself?”
Are detention buses the new jails? https://t.co/XFxcGxUVGg
— Neha (@neha_aisa) October 11, 2026
Also Read: Dhruv Rathee alleges ‘kidnapping’ by Delhi Police, calls crackdown an ‘unofficial Emergency’
Bora alleged that the security forces were waging a war against the people of the country to protect Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and called on personnel to stop acting as “lackeys” for him and serving the RSS and the BJP.
“There is absolutely no justification for the brutality with which the CRPF carried out today’s detentions, except that they are doing nothing but waging a war against the common people of this country. So many armed personnel, so much police presence, so much violence. Abuses directed at mothers and sisters, caste-based slurs. Why?” she said.
“Simply because you want to protect a thief, Gyanesh Kumar. How much sycophancy will those people wearing uniforms have to engage in, when their job should be to serve the public? But they cannot seem to find the time to do anything other than act as lackeys for Gyanesh Kumar and serve the RSS and the BJP.”
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court held a special sitting to hear petitions arising from the Delhi Police’s handling of the protests. It directed that “there shall be no detention of any individual except in accordance with the procedure established by law”, with particular reference to peaceful and unarmed people outside areas where prohibitory orders were in force.
Hours later, Left organisations resumed protests but immediately faced police action.
SFI leaders alleged that the police physically assaulted those detained, including Communist Party of India (Marxist) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas and Saji. Dinesh, a national functionary of the All India Students’ Federation (AISF), was also allegedly beaten by the police in Delhi.
The police also detained several journalists covering the protests, despite their holding media passes.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
