AISA national president Neha Bora was released at the Narela Industrial Area police station after being picked up during the organisation’s protest march towards Jantar Mantar on Sunday, AISA members claimed.
She was released without her phone and bag, they said, adding that a team of lawyers was being sent to the police station to assist Bora.
Earlier, AISA members had claimed that the student leader was picked up by the Delhi Police in a private vehicle without an official number plate and taken to an unknown location. They also alleged that no woman police officer was present inside the vehicle when Bora was taken away, calling it a violation of procedure.
The allegations are baseless, a senior police officer said.
The officer claimed some protesters attacked police personnel on duty and bit them.
The developments came as AISA activists attempted to return to Jantar Mantar for the third consecutive day, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, and proceeded towards Jantar Mantar even as the area was fortified with heavy police barricading and security deployment.
The mobilisation began from Andhra Bhawan Circle on Ashoka Road, with protesters marching towards Jantar Mantar and raising slogans while attempting to reach the designated protest site amid a heavy police presence.
The protesters and security personnel clashed briefly as police tried to prevent them from crossing the barricades.
Visuals of the march showed Bora attempting to climb over a barricade as police officials tried to stop her.
The protest is part of the larger agitation happening across cities over the alleged irregularities in the Election Commission’s functioning, conduct of the SIR exercise and mass deletion of voters.
The fresh mobilisation in Delhi came a day after more than 150 protesters were detained here on Saturday. More than 1,000 protesters, including student activists and political leaders, were detained during demonstrations in central Delhi on Friday as well. Bora, AAP leaders and activist Yogendra Yadav were among those detained on Friday.
Police had denied permission for Friday’s gathering and deployed additional personnel in central Delhi. Several roads leading towards Jantar Mantar were barricaded and access to some metro stations in the vicinity was temporarily restricted during the earlier protests.
The protests follow an investigation by The Indian Express, claiming that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected on record at least 14 times over the last 10 months to decisions and orders on the SIR that they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation.
Under fire over the red flags raised by two of its commissioners over the SIR process, the Election Commission has asserted that differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberations in any institution and that all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
