Police in India’s capital have handed a trespassing case against two protest-party leaders to the Crime Branch.
A magistrate extended their time in judicial custody by two days.
Police say they entered a banned protest site through private premises.
The party says the authorities are prolonging the detention.
No court has found them guilty.
On October 14, a Special Executive Magistrate sent the two leaders to judicial custody, according to the same report.
Police allege that they trespassed through private premises to reach Jantar Mantar, which had been de-notified as a protest site a day earlier, and that they violated bonds requiring them to keep the peace.
Delhi Police allege that the protesters obstructed police personnel from discharging their duties, according to ThePrint.
Two FIRs are involved, according to ThePrint. The Connaught Place police station FIR invokes Sections 223A, 332 and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Section 223A deals with disobedience of an order promulgated by a public servant, Section 332 with house-trespass to commit an offence, and Section 61(2) with criminal conspiracy.
The Parliament Street police station FIR invokes Sections 221, 115(2), 132, 121(1) and 3(5), which relate to obstructing a public servant, causing hurt, assaulting a public servant and common intention, according to ThePrint.
ThePrint did not specify which of the two FIRs corresponds to the case transferred to the Crime Branch, while Onmanorama says the Connaught Place case moved and the Parliament Street FIR remains with local police.
Another associate was bound down to keep the peace and good behaviour for six months and released on a personal bond and a surety of Rs 5,000, according to the reports.
The party has accused the authorities of deliberately prolonging the detention, while the police have argued that releasing the two could threaten public peace, according to the reports. These are the claims of the two sides.
Barakhamba Road, New Delhi (file image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
