YouTuber Dhruv Rathee said on Sunday that he was “kidnapped,” not detained, when he was taken from his house in Gurugram a day before the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) planned protest at Jantar Mantar. He also said he gave no undertaking to the police before being let go.
“I was not arrested or detained, I was KIDNAPPED,” Rathee wrote on social media after getting home, along with a video giving his version of events.
Rathee was picked up from his residence in Sector 56, Gurugram, on Saturday, as Delhi Police tightened security across the capital to stop people from reaching Jantar Mantar. The CJP had called the protest to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Delhi Police had refused permission for the gathering.
Accounts of the timing differ. Rathee says about 20 people in plain clothes entered his home around 7 am while he was asleep. Some reports, citing officials, put his detention at around 9.30 am.
Officials said he was released at about 3 am on Sunday and handed over to his family.
Rathee also denied that he had given any undertaking to Gurugram Police as a condition of release. He said his detention, and the action against other protesters, raised questions about citizens’ freedom to dissent.
