Delhi Police detained AAP councillor Ashu Thakur from her CR Park office on Monday morning, hours after she had circulated a video urging citizens to gather on the spot and join a march to Parliament organised by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).

In the video, posted to her X account on Sunday night, Thakur had offered to arrange transport for participants. “Aapko le jaane aur waapas laana meri zimmedaari hogi,” she said. Her caption for the post read: “Tomorrow morning at 8:00 am, we – fellow citizens – will unite and march from the Municipal Councilor’s office, proceeding from Jantar Mantar to the Parliament House. Come, let us take a step together for the future of our children.”

Newslaundry witnessed the detention, in which a police team that included several women officers arrived at Thakur’s office and took her to the police station. Thakur repeatedly demanded to see a copy of the detention orders and questioned the rationale behind the action. “You shouldn’t have allowed people to be at Jantar Mantar. How will it help if you stop me?... will the crowd reduce if you stop me?” she said.

According to Thakur, police personnel had been stationed outside her house since 4 am to prevent her from joining the march. She said a constable had visited on Sunday night for what she described as a routine inquiry, but she had not anticipated that it would escalate into what she called a “house arrest” by the next morning. A small group of local residents had gathered at the office near her home as the police moved in. The officers present were not authorised to speak to the media.

Thakur’s detention came against the backdrop of prohibitory orders imposed by Delhi Police under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), banning large public gatherings ahead of the CJP’s planned march to Parliament. 

In a statement on Sunday night, Delhi Police said: “Delhi Police categorically clarifies that no permission has been sought or granted for any such protest march/procession.” The Section 163 BNSS order — the successor provision to the erstwhile Section 144 of the CrPC — remains in force across the New Delhi district, the statement noted, meaning that any protest march, procession, demonstration or gathering of five or more people is barred except at the designated protest venue of Jantar Mantar, and only with prior permission.

The CJP had called for the march to press for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG examination.