New Delhi [India], October 19 (ANI): Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) activist Abhijeet Dipke on Monday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the judicial custody of Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka was extended, accusing the government of intimidating young protesters.

Accusing the administration of high-handedness and weaponising law enforcement, Dipke targeted the Prime Minister over the police action via a self-made video on X.

"Narendra Modi, you must be feeling very strong right now. Keeping a 26-year-old Saurav Das in jail must make you feel very strong. Beating up children on the streets, deploying barricades all across Delhi, and dragging all the students on the streets, you must feel very strong," Dipke said.

Das and Ashutosh were remanded to judicial custody following the Jantar Mantar protest. Dipke claimed that legal proceedings had been deliberately stalled through repeated adjournments.

Outlining the procedural hurdles faced by the detained youth, he said, "Saurav and Ashutosh went to Jantar Mantar to hoist the Tricolour, for which they were sent to five days of judicial custody, and after that, their hearing wasn't even allowed to take place. On one pretext or another, the hearing was postponed every single day."

Challenging the administration's reliance on state machinery, Dipke questioned the political optics of keeping young protesters behind bars.

Questioning the definition of state authority and leadership, he added, "Is this strength? Hiding behind the police... hiding behind the courts is this the strength of Narendra Modi? Using the entire state machinery against two kids who would have been the age of Modi's grandchildren if he had a family, if he had his own children, Saurav and Ashu are the age of his grandchildren. By keeping them in jail, do you feel very strong? Or rather, I don't know, do you feel like a powerful Prime Minister?"

Condemning the measures taken against the youth, Dipke labelled the leadership's approach as defensive, emphasising that real strength is shown by Saurav Das.

"You are just a coward. Let me tell you what real strength is. After spending five days in jail, Saurav Das, a 27-year-old who had never imagined in his life that he would ever go to jail. Once, when someone asked him in jail how many days he would be able to survive, he used to say, 'I won't even survive a single day," Abhijeet Dipke said.

Earlier today, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were taken back to judicial custody from Mandir Marg Police Station in Delhi after their surety was rejected on Monday over a reported mismatch in documents, their lawyers said.

Ratna Singh, Head of Legal Affairs at CJP, criticised the proceedings, alleging that liberty was being curtailed on vague grounds despite repeated attempts to complete the surety verification process.

"A mockery was going on in the Court. For the last six days, we have been saying that one or the other reason is being nitpicked - surety verification has not been done, that an FIR has been lodged against the surety. We saw someone's liberty being curtailed," Singh said.

She alleged that the hearing, scheduled for 2 pm, began around 3-3.30 pm and lasted an hour. Singh further said they would challenge the decision, describing it as an attempt to stifle voices.

"The 2 pm hearing began at 3-3.30 pm. It went for an hour. Our lawyers discussed the legal points. There was nothing presented from the other side which said that there should be an extension (of judicial custody). There was no reason to keep them in further judicial custody. They have been sent to judicial custody for a very vague reason...We will challenge this. This is mental torture and an attempt to stifle voices...We can see everything; the entire world can see everything. They cannot silence everyone,' she added.

Advocate Abhik Chimni, representing Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, said he was disappointed with the decision, arguing that the matter concerned preventive custody and that the court had earlier sought sureties. He said that the surety was rejected, citing a mismatch of the photographs.

'We are very disappointed. This is a matter of preventive custody, and it is also a matter of fact that the Court itself said that they don't deem it necessary for the person to be sent to judicial custody. That is why they asked for the surety; once the sureties were given, they originally had a problem with it. Then there was an issue with the next surety too," Advocate Chimni said.

On October 12, the Delhi Police arrested Das, Ranka and others for allegedly trespassing at Jantar Mantar, which has been de-notified as a designated protest venue. Following their arrest, Das and Ranka were sent to five days of judicial custody. (ANI)