Peaceful protest. Brutal detention. And now, illegal confinement.
NSUI students marching peacefully towards Jantar Mantar, demanding the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, have been brutally detained.
They are now being held at Kapashera Police Station. As per the SHO Vikram Dahiya, he is instructed that they will not be released until tomorrow night because of the Congress Rahul Gandhi-led march scheduled for tomorrow.
If protesters are being kept in custody merely to prevent them from participating in tomorrow’s political programme, what is this if not an abuse of state power?
Detention cannot become a tool to silence dissent.
Police custody cannot become political captivity.
And peaceful protest cannot be criminalised for administrative convenience.
The authority to detain is not the authority to suppress.
Release the students. End this arbitrary detention.