Protests demanding the Chief Election Commissioner's resignation

Now

9 Oct 2026. Delhi Police denied permission for the CJP's 10 October rally at Jantar Mantar. Joint Commissioner Nupur Prasad said the application, from CJP co-convener Saurav Das, came too late under a guideline that requires 10 days' notice, that the CJP had not complied with its undertakings at an earlier protest, and that law and order, public safety and traffic were considered. She said prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS were in force in the New Delhi area.

2011

15 Aug 2011. India Against Corruption applied to Delhi Police on 2 August for a month-long fast from 16 August. On 13 August police said permission would be granted at JP Park subject to conditions and an undertaking to abide by them. On 15 August the organisers refused six of the conditions, including a three-day limit, and police refused permission, according to the Prime Minister's statement to Parliament. Home Minister P. Chidambaram said the organisers would not guarantee to limit the protest to 5,000 people and three days. Arun Jaitley told the Rajya Sabha that 22 conditions had been imposed

Now

9 Oct 2026. The Union Home Ministry authorised the suspension of all mobile internet services within a 4-km radius of the Janpath-Kartavya Path crossing in New Delhi from 10 pm on 9 October to 10 pm on 10 October. Reports differ on whether the order was issued by the Home Ministry or by Delhi Police with Home Ministry approval. MediaNama reported that the order was not published officially and did not state its grounds, and that a 12-hour shutdown within 1.5 km of Jantar Mantar had been imposed on 2 October.

Now

10 Oct 2026. Mass detentions across New Delhi; detainees were held in stadiums, community centres and police stations. Those detained included former chief ministers Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Pinarayi Vijayan and Manik Sarkar. Counts differ (see figures). ANI reported about 600 arrests in Mumbai. Police did not comment on the numbers.

10 Oct 2026. Police detained journalists covering the protests, including three Newslaundry reporters and an intern and Scroll's Ayush Tiwari and Shoaib Daniyal on 10 October; Newslaundry said some equipment was seized. More journalists were detained on 11 October. All were later released.

2011

16 Aug 2011. Supporters who went to JP Park and other places under prohibitory orders were detained through the day, many of them taken by bus to Chhatrasal Stadium, which was used as a holding site. The Prime Minister said all of them were released that evening. Counts of those detained differ

1974

Jun 1975. The Shah Commission tabulated, by state and union territory, 34,988 detentions under MISA and 75,818 arrests under the Defence and Internal Security of India Rules during the Emergency. Its state-level breakdowns include political party members and members of banned organisations as well as people held for other reasons, such as alleged smuggling. A Home Ministry message of 26 June 1975 advised states to detain the influential and active elements of the BJS and RSS under MISA. The Commission said that the misuse of detention powers under the amended MISA was the single item that had affected people most across the country.

2012

25 Dec 2012. On 25 December police detained a group of young women protesters from Jantar Mantar and outside Parliament Street police station for violating prohibitory orders, and released them after about four hours. The women alleged that police manhandled them; police sources denied this and said the group had tried to incite others and break through barricades.

Now

10 Oct 2026. Police boarded the Air India flight that brought CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka from Mumbai and detained them on arrival in New Delhi, before the rally. The CJP said they were denied access to lawyers. YouTuber Dhruv Rathee was detained from his home in Gurugram and AISA president Neha Bora was also detained.

2011

16 Aug 2011. Police arrested Hazare in the morning outside a flat in Mayur Vihar, East Delhi, before he could go to JP Park. The Prime Minister said Hazare and six others were arrested as a preventive measure under Sections 151 and 107 CrPC because police concluded they would defy the prohibitory orders. A magistrate offered release on personal bonds with an undertaking not to violate the orders; Hazare refused and was remanded to seven days' judicial custody in Tihar Jail. That evening Delhi Police asked the magistrate to review the order, and he ordered the release at about 7 pm, according to the Prime Minister. Hazare refused to leave the jail without permission to fast at JP Park without conditions

1974

25 Jun 1975. Opposition leaders were arrested from the night of 25-26 June 1975. In Bangalore, A. B. Vajpayee, L. K. Advani, S. N. Mishra and Madhu Dandavate were detained under MISA on 26 June after the Delhi Chief Secretary asked for their arrest with, he said, the Prime Minister's concurrence. Morarji Desai was also held. Jayaprakash Narayan was arrested under MISA in Delhi, taken to Chandigarh on 1 July and held at the PGI campus, which was notified as a sub-jail. He was released on 12 November 1975 after his health deteriorated, and was then treated for kidney damage at Jaslok Hospital in Bombay. The Shah Commission found that the arrests of political leaders ordered that night did not comply with the law and amounted to wrongful arrest and detention.

Now

10 Oct 2026. Police sealed Jantar Mantar, set up checkpoints and concrete barriers on main roads and entry points, and deployed tens of thousands of police and paramilitary personnel. Entry and exit at dozens of metro stations were closed from the night of 9 October at Delhi Police's request, and trains into New Delhi were cancelled. Counts of personnel, closed stations and cancelled trains differ.

12 Oct 2026. For a third day police deployed thousands of personnel in central Delhi, set up metal barricades and kept six major metro stations shut as Rahul Gandhi and INDIA bloc leaders led a march from Connaught Place toward the Supreme Court. Police stopped the march on Bhagwan Das Marg, about 600 m from the court, after protesters crossed the first barricade. The leaders filed a petition against the SIR that evening.

2012

23 Dec 2012. On Delhi Police directions, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation announced late on 22 December that four stations near India Gate would close until further orders, and shut four more on the morning of 23 December. The eight stations shut on 23 December were Race Course, Udyog Bhawan, Central Secretariat, Patel Chowk, Barakhamba Road, Mandi House, Khan Market and Pragati Maidan. On 24 December nine were shut, adding Rajiv Chowk. Police barricaded Rajpath and the road from India Gate to Rashtrapati Bhavan, and traffic police closed the arterial roads leading to India Gate. All nine stations reopened on 25 December.

Now

11 Oct 2026. An executive magistrate's court released the three CJP leaders on condition of no breach of peace for one year, according to CJP lawyer Ratna Singh; Delhi Police confirmed the release and its conditions. IANS reported that they furnished a bond of Rs 50,000. Dhruv Rathee was also released. Police said all detainees had been released. Al Jazeera reported that detainees were released after the Supreme Court called their detention illegal; LiveLaw's report of the 11 October hearing records directions against detention except under procedure established by law, and no such finding.

1974

25 Jun 1975. Late on 25 June 1975, President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed signed a proclamation declaring that a grave emergency existed whereby the security of India was threatened by internal disturbance. Indira Gandhi recommended it in a letter to the President that night, in which she wrote that she had not consulted the Cabinet because of the urgency. The Shah Commission recorded that the Cabinet Secretary, the Home Secretary and the Law Minister learned of the proclamation only on the morning of 26 June, when a Cabinet meeting was held at 6 a.m. On 27 June a Presidential order under Article 359(1) suspended the right to move any court to enforce Articles 14, 21 and 22.

28 Apr 1976. In ADM Jabalpur v. Shivkant Shukla the Supreme Court held 4-1 that, in view of the Presidential order of 27 June 1975, no person had locus standi to move a High Court for habeas corpus to challenge a detention order as illegal or mala fide. Justice H. R. Khanna dissented.

2011

15 Aug 2011. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC were imposed on 15 August in and around JP Park and some other areas, according to the Prime Minister's statement. Governance Now reported on 16 August that police had sealed the park under Section 144 and taken supporters who tried to enter it to Chhatrasal Stadium

2012

23 Dec 2012. Delhi Police prohibitory orders barred assemblies in central New Delhi, including India Gate, Rajpath and the area near Rashtrapati Bhavan, and police asked protesters to demonstrate at Jantar Mantar or Ramlila Maidan instead. Reports differ on the threshold: PTI reported a ban on four or more people, Al Jazeera on more than five. A public interest petition in the Delhi High Court (WP 8127 of 2012, Anand K. Mishra v. Delhi Police) described the order as dated 22 December and challenged it as a breach of the rights to assemble and move freely; the Additional Solicitor General argued for Delhi Police that protesters were obstructing traffic and that the order was within Section 144, and on 2 January 2013 the Chief Justice's bench reserved orders. The Associated Press reported that on 23 December authorities withdrew the ban on assembly in the high-security zone as crowds converged, while keeping barricades. On 25 December police told protesters at Jantar Mantar that prohibitory orders were in place and no protests were allowed in and around India Gate.

2012

23 Dec 2012. On 23 December police used batons, tear gas and water cannon to clear crowds at India Gate and near Vijay Chowk. Reports describe some protesters throwing stones, burning barricades and overturning vehicles; police said the protest had been joined by hooligans. Journalists' bodies protested at the Press Club of India against police action on reporters. Late on 24 December Delhi Police tweeted an apology to any innocent protester who had been hurt or lathi-charged. In its report the Justice Verma Committee wrote: "The lathi charge on peaceful demonstrators after the December 16 gang rape has scarred the Indian democracy."

2012

22 Dec 2012. On 22 December Delhi Police and Rapid Action Force personnel used water cannon, tear gas and baton charges to push back protesters who gathered at Raisina Hill, near Rashtrapati Bhavan and Parliament House, and tried to march towards Rashtrapati Bhavan. Some protesters tried to break through barricades, and buses and police vehicles were damaged. Al Jazeera reported that some women protesters were injured when police charged them near a central government building. Delhi Police registered a case of rioting and damage to public property at Parliament Street police station.

1974

19 Apr 1976. On 19 April 1976 police fired on residents of the Turkman Gate area of Delhi who were protesting against demolitions. Delhi Police and the Delhi Administration reported six deaths. A police assistant sub-inspector told the Shah Commission that eight had died, then said this was a slip. The Commission found that the firing resulted in at least six deaths and that the authorities had made no elementary inquiry into it.

18 Oct 1976. On 18 and 19 October 1976 police fired in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, to deal with resistance to the sterilisation drive. The Shah Commission listed it among at least eight police firings in the state between August and December 1976 linked to the family planning programme, and reported that the firings at Gorakhpur, Muzaffarnagar and Pratapgarh together resulted in 12 deaths. The state government ordered inquiries into all the firings.

1974

25 Jun 1975. On the night of 25-26 June 1975 the electricity connections of newspaper presses in Delhi were cut from about 2 a.m.; the head of the Delhi electricity undertaking told the Shah Commission that the Lieutenant Governor said these were orders from the Prime Minister's house. The Commission held that the disconnection had no legal authority. A Censorship Order was issued on 26 June 1975. Censorship guidelines later barred editors from leaving editorial columns blank, which the Information and Broadcasting Minister told the Commission was treated as a sign of protest. The Express group's newspapers ran a blank editorial space on 28 June 1975.

1974

1976. Houses, shops and other structures in Delhi were demolished in slum clearance drives by the Delhi Development Authority and the Municipal Corporation. In a Delhi television interview on 31 December 1976, quoted by the Shah Commission, Jagmohan said seven lakh (700,000) people had been resettled in eight months. The Commission found that Jagmohan became a law unto himself and did the biddings of Sanjay Gandhi, and that Sanjay Gandhi was the prime mover in most of the illegal demolitions in Delhi.

1974

28 May 1977. The Janata Party government appointed the Shah Commission, chaired by J. C. Shah, retired Chief Justice of India, to inquire into excesses during the Emergency, including misuse of arrest and detention powers, force in the family planning programme and demolitions. It issued interim reports on 11 March and 26 April 1978 and a final report on 6 August 1978. It reported that official records showed nothing alarming on the economic front and that the law and order situation was under control before the proclamation. Indira Gandhi declined to give evidence on oath, and the Commission ordered her prosecution for refusing to take the oath and answer questions.

2012

23 Dec 2012. The Union government constituted a three-member Committee on Amendments to Criminal Law, chaired by former Chief Justice of India J. S. Verma, with Justice Leila Seth and Gopal Subramanium, to recommend amendments to criminal law for quicker trial and enhanced punishment in cases of aggravated sexual assault. Its report, dated 23 January 2013, says the committee was constituted in response to the country-wide public outcry.