Delhi HC agrees to hear CJP leaders’ plea against judicial custody

The Delhi High Court will urgently entertain a plea filed by CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka against their continued judicial remand, which is also ending on Wednesday.

Justice Subramonium Prasad will hear the matter, which LiveLaw reports was taken for urgent listing by the court on Wednesday.

The petition assails the order passed by the Special Executive Magistrate on October 19, which extended their judicial custody for two days. Das and Ranka submitted that the Magistrate passed the order arbitrarily and, in spite of submitting their sureties, rejected them.

The matter relates to a demonstration at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, during which the leaders allegedly tried to hoist the national flag in contravention of the prohibitory orders. The duo were produced before a court and remanded to five days of judicial custody on Oct. 14.

The activists’ attorneys have also challenged the basis for their prolonged detention, saying that a protest at a location where protests are no longer permitted should be viewed as a matter of regulation, not a threat to public order.

The order for the High Court to entertain the plea is not equivalent to releasing them.