Maharashtra Public Service Commission aspirants called off their 10-day protest in Pune on Sunday after the panel’s chairman, Vivek Bhimanwar, went on leave pending an inquiry into an alleged question paper leak.

The state government also formed a committee to investigate the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the examination, PTI reported.

The panel will be chaired by former Bombay High Court Chief judge Dilip Bhosale, with Indian Administrative Service officer Tukaram Mundhe serving as the secretary, PTI reported.

The probe committee’s other members include serving and retired bureaucrats, and another former High Court judge.

The panel will examine the commission’s functioning, investigate allegations of paper leaks and recommend reforms. It is expected to submit its report within two months, The Indian Express reported.

Thousands of state civil service aspirants had been protesting at Pune’s SM Joshi Bridge since October 2, demanding Bhimanwar’s resignation following the alleged question paper leak and alleged irregularities in the drug inspector recruitment examination held in March.

After the government announced the judicial inquiry, Bhimanwar said that he would go on leave until the probe was completed.

“Throughout my entire life, I have always prioritised ethics,” he said on social media. “Therefore, I have decided to go on leave during this period instead of continuing to serve in the post until this inquiry is completed.”

The government also assured the protesters that other demands would be considered, including the recruitment to 70,000 posts over three years, an increase in vacancies for the Group C examination scheduled for January and the withdrawal of cases against the representatives of the demonstrators, PTI reported.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that the developments marked a “big victory” for the students. He said that there will be a full investigation into corruption after “the chairman of MPSC finally had to go”.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

Also read: At Pune’s MPSC protest, angry young aspirants say they have been betrayed by the state

The Opposition INDIA bloc has called for a march to the Supreme Court on Monday to meet Chief Justice Surya Kant and submit a memorandum to him amid protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

However, Kant has declined the request for a meeting.

Monday marks the third consecutive day of protests in Delhi by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign, the Opposition parties and student groups to demand Kumar’s resignation over concerns about the functioning of the Election Commission and its handling of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

Protests against Kumar have been held in the national capital and other parts of the country since October 2.

Here’s more on this and other updates:

Opposition’s protest today

• The INDIA bloc will march to the Supreme Court to submit a memorandum to the chief justice over alleged “vote chori”. Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, has urged citizens, youth groups and all Opposition parties to join the march.
• Key Opposition leaders including Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav are expected to participate in the march. The INDIA bloc parties have instructed their state units to also mobilise for the march in Delhi, the Deccan Herald reported. The will be the Opposition’s fifth protest in the capital to demand Kumar’s resignation since October 6.
• However, Kant has declined Gandhi’s request for a meeting, Live Law quoted unidentified persons aware of the matter. The chief justice said that questions concerning the voter roll revision and the chief election commissioner were already pending before the Supreme Court and, therefore, it would be inappropriate to consider matters that are sub-judice, Live Law reported.
• Kant also conveyed that the Supreme Court could not intervene in the functioning of the executive on its “administrative side” under the constitutional scheme, according to the report. However, he clarified that the Opposition was free to approach the court through the judicial process.
• Meanwhile, the Cockroach Janta Party is expected to approach the Parliament Street Police Station at 10 am to seek a date for a peaceful protest at Jantar Mantar. The campaign said it will give the Delhi Police 24 hours to respond, warning that it would independently announce a call to mobilise otherwise.
• Delhi High Court Bar Association has asked its members to wear black ribbons on Monday to protest against the allegedly excessive use of force against demonstrating lawyers by the police on Saturday, Live Law reported.

Restrictions continue

• Entry and exit at six Delhi Metro stations will be closed from 6 am to 4 pm on Monday, ahead of the Opposition’s march, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said.
• The stations are Janpath, Rajiv Chowk, Patel Chowk, Mandi House, Central Secretariat and Barakhamba Road. These are in central Delhi near the Jantar Mantar protest site, and Connaught Place, where the Opposition has asked its supporters to gather for the march.
• Prohibitory orders barring gatherings are in force in central Delhi.

#WATCH | Delhi: Visuals from Jantar Mantar ahead of the INDIA bloc's protest scheduled for today in Delhi. pic.twitter.com/UROVmRxA9m

— ANI (@ANI) October 12, 2026

The demonstrations on Sunday

• On Sunday, the Delhi Police detained more than 700 persons including All India Students’ Association chief Neha Bora and members of Left-affiliated student groups and the Cockroach Janta Party, Hindustan Times reported.
• The protesters were picked up from Connaught Place, Palika Bazaar, RK Ashram Marg and outside the Press Club of India, the newspaper reported. Detainees were taken to locations including Chhatrasal Stadium and Pandwalan Khurd. Some protesters alleged they were beaten at Pandwalan Khurd.
• At least nine journalists covering the protests were detained on Sunday. These include three journalists of The Indian Express Hindi, two from Peek TV and at least three working with Malayalam news channels, including Reporter TV, 24 News and Asianet News. Journalist and content creator Shyam Meera Singh was also detained. Read more on this here.
• Communist Party of India (Marxist) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas alleged that he was “manhandled, dragged [and] assaulted” by the Delhi Police inside a vehicle before being “dumped” by the roadside in Delhi. A video shared by the party showed Brittas lying on the steps of a bus and panting.
• “This is not merely an assault on an MP,” Brittas said on social media. “It is an assault on democratic freedoms and the rule of law.”
• Brittas said that he had written to President Droupadi Murmu, the Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan and the chief justice seeking intervention, accountability for the police personnel involved and action on the question of parliamentary privilege.
• Demonstrators in other parts of the country, including in Maharashtra and Goa, were also detained.
• In Mumbai, demonstrators were not allowed to gather near Shivaji Park. Some were detained for walking near the area.
• In Pune, about 80 to 100 protesters, including members of Left groups, were detained during a demonstration at Good Luck Chowk. A protester told Scroll over the phone that those detained were taken in police vans to Shivajinagar Police Station. People later gathered outside the station, shouting slogans and demanding their release.
• In Goa, protesters were prevented from entering Azad Maidan in Panaji, where a demonstration had been scheduled. The main gates were locked and a police battalion was deployed around the venue.

On Sunday afternoon, journalists from several media organisations were detained by Delhi Police while they were covering protests near Lady Hardinge Hospital.

Despite wearing their press cards prominently, they were dragged into a bus and taken away.@knowleena reports pic.twitter.com/8iiFI51eTm

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) October 11, 2026

Mumbai Police begin detaining Shiv Sena leaders and local protestors who were protesting outside Shiv Sena Bhawan.@tabassum_b reports pic.twitter.com/OPH3vGcO30

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) October 11, 2026

Follow Scroll’s coverage of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls here.

A contentious exercise

Since the exercise began in June 2025, it has faced questions about the manner and pace of its implementation, amid concerns that it could deny genuine electors their right to vote and shape election outcomes, as Scroll has reported.

In May, the Supreme Court upheld the legality of the exercise, but said that it does not mean that the Election Commission can decide on whether the person is an Indian citizen.

Despite this, Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states have cited the SIR to deny ration cards to those who have been eliminated from the rolls. In some cases, the police have denied permission for their passports to be renewed.

Edited by Sara Varghese and Nachiket Deuskar.

Also read:

• Delhi Police arrested thousands far away from Jantar Mantar. What this legal?
• How Modi put Delhi under siege to protect Gyanesh Kumar
• How TV channels covered the protests as ‘anarchy’ and ignored the detentions of journalists

The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia said on Sunday that an Indian citizen injured in the attack on the Riyadh airport had died from his injuries, a day after the strike.

Saturday’s attack on the airport killed 13 persons from several countries and injured more than 300, making it the deadliest strike on Saudi Arabia since May 2015, BBC reported.

At least 11 Indians were among the injured, the Indian embassy said, including the one who later died.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi identified the deceased person as Mohammad Yousuf Ali, a resident of Hyderabad.

He was travelling with his family for Islamic pilgrimage Umrah and was waiting at the airport for a flight when the attack took place, The Indian Express reported.

The Indian embassy expressed its condolences to Ali’s family and said it would provide assistance, including facilitating the early repatriation of the body.

The diplomatic mission said that while three injured Indians were in intensive care but in stable conditions, two others were admitted to regular hospital wards. Other injured Indians had been discharged.

The others who died included four Saudis, two people from Bangladesh and one person each from the United States of America, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt, the Saudi civil aviation authority said.

Yemen’s Houthi militant group has claimed responsibility for several attacks on Saudi Arabia in the past 24 hours, including the strike on the Riyadh airport, BBC reported. The group has warned airlines against using Saudi airports or airspace.

The attacks mark an escalation in the conflict between the Iran-backed Houthis, who are seeking to topple Yemen’s internationally recognised government, and Saudi Arabia, which backs the government.

Two Indian seafarers missing after Hormuz attacks

Separately, India on Sunday condemned attacks on two commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz region, including a drone strike on the tanker MT Petro Dolphin that left two Indian seafarers missing.

It did not elaborate on who had attacked the ships.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs, MT Petro Dolphin had 11 Indian crew members aboard when it was reportedly struck by a drone on Sunday.

Union Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said that nine crew members had been rescued and search operations were underway to find the missing seafarers.

A second vessel, the Marshall Islands-flagged MT Valthera, was struck by an unidentified projectile, resulting in a fire on board, the foreign ministry said.

However, all 11 Indian seafarers on the vessel were reported safe.

“India reiterates the need for immediate de-escalation and a resolution to the ongoing conflict through dialogue and diplomacy,” the ministry said. “Attacks on commercial vessels, seafarers and civilian infrastructure must cease.”

Several ships have been struck in the Strait of Hormuz since the war in West Asia began in February. At least 11 Indian seafarers have died in the attacks.

Written by Sara Varghese. Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

The Delhi Police detained at least nine journalists covering protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar for the second consecutive day on Sunday.

Three journalists of The Indian Express Hindi, two from Peek TV and at least three journalists working with Malayalam news channels, including Reporter TV, 24 News and Asianet News, were also detained.

Journalist and content creator Shyam Meera Singh was also detained. His account on social media platform X was withheld in India on Sunday. It remained restricted, as of 8 am on Monday.

The Indian Express reported that its journalists Shashwat, Siya and Vijay were detained while reporting from Connaught Place. They were taken to Chhatrasal Stadium and later released, the newspaper reported.

Shyam Meera Singh detained at CP after being heckled and abused by Hindutva activists. @scroll_in pic.twitter.com/5X5R3EJpQu

— Ayush Tiwari (@sighyush) October 11, 2026

Breaking: at least six more journalists detained, shoved into a van by Delhi Police as they were asking the cops about the detention of a journalist moments ago at the same location.

As I question the police, one of them tells me: ‘this is not the right time to ask anything’. pic.twitter.com/RYAJqElDYk

— Sreenivasan Jain (@SreenivasanJain) October 11, 2026

Peek TV said its journalists Vedanta Agarwal and Sara Khan were “dragged” and detained by the Delhi Police from Connaught Place while reporting on the detention of protesters, despite showing their press cards.

The Malayalam journalists were also released hours later, Mathrubhumi reported.

Independent journalist M Rajshekhar was held while taking photographs of students being detained in Connaught Place.

On Saturday, Scroll journalists Ayush Tiwari and Shoaib Daniyal were detained in Delhi, and Divya Aslesha in Pune while covering protests demanding the resignation of Kumar.

Journalists from Newslaundry, The Quint, the Navbharat Times, Reuters, Alt News, Boom Live, Molitics and Reporter TV were also detained. They were released later that day.

This is how Delhi Police is treating journalists. Even those who have press badges on them.

Hear the account of the journalist in the next tweet. pic.twitter.com/7uzvno572A

— Supriya Sharma (@sharmasupriya) October 10, 2026

‘Police’s actions against journalists are unacceptable’

On Sunday, global media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontières raised concerns about the “brutal detention” of journalists in India while they were covering the protests.

At least 16 journalists, including Scroll journalists, had been detained, said the organisation.

“Covering events of public interest is not a crime,” the media watchdog said. “It is their job. The police’s actions against the press are unacceptable.”

Digipub News India Foundation, an association of independent digital news organisations and journalists of which Scroll is a member, expressed concern about the conduct of the Delhi Police and the Union government. The police in the national capital report to the Union home ministry.

The news association said that the Supreme Court had on Sunday said that no peaceful, unarmed citizen is to be illegally detained and free movement of people must be ensured. “The order is clear,” Digipub said in a statement. “The response on the ground has been the opposite.”

It added: “Detaining a journalist with a press card and a microphone is not crowd control. It is an attempt to stop the public from seeing what is happening.”

The association said that beating journalists for doing their jobs is a “flagrant disregard” of the Supreme Court’s directions on illegal detention and fundamental rights of citizens.

“Independent and digital journalists appear to be bearing the brunt of this,” Digipub said.

The association demanded that the authorities comply with the court's orders and immediately release all detained journalists.

It also said that all journalists must be provided unhindered access to cover the protests.

The Digipub News India Foundation also sought an independent inquiry into the illegal detentions and the assault on journalists.

The protests have been called by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign and student groups affiliated with Left parties.

Protests have been held in several parts of the country in recent weeks, with demonstrators demanding Kumar’s resignation over concerns about the functioning of the Election Commission and its handling of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

Written by Anamika Pathak. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

Also read: How TV channels covered the protests as ‘anarchy’ and ignored the detentions of journalists

Neha Bora, the president of the All India Students’ Association, was detained on Sunday while leading a protest march in Delhi.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP John Brittas was detained near Connaught Place. The party alleged that he was assaulted by the police. “He was later dropped by the roadside, visibly injured and in distress,” the party said.

Representatives of Left-affiliated student groups and the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign were also detained on Sunday.

In Mumbai, the Cockroach Janta Party had called for a protest at 4 pm, but demonstrators were not allowed to assemble near Shivaji Park and were being detained at Dadar station itself. Some were detained even for walking in the area.

The Cockroach Janta Party had called for a protest in Mumbai at 4 pm, but demonstrators were not allowed to assemble near Shivaji Park and were being detained from Dadar station itself.

Some were detained even for walking in the area.@tabassum_b reports pic.twitter.com/uE5xWQiyG1

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) October 11, 2026

The police action came after the Cockroach Janta Party and Left groups had called for fresh protests in Delhi on Sunday, a day after thousands of protesters, Opposition leaders, activists, lawyers and journalists were held across the capital.

The demonstrations were organised to demand Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court passed an interim order directing that people peacefully assembling to protest must not be detained “except save by law”.

Here’s more on this and other updates:

Protests curbed in Mumbai, Pune, Goa

• In Mumbai, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leaders and other protesters had gathered outside the Shiv Sena Bhawan. As police started detaining them, Uddhav Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray climbed atop a police van to stop it from taking away the protesters.

Uddhav Sena leader Aditya Thackeray climbs onto a police van to stop it from taking away the protestors who were protesting outside Shiv Sena Bhawan in Mumbai.@tabassum_b reports pic.twitter.com/bZsh3bxgiq

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) October 11, 2026

• In Pune as well several protesters were detained and taken to Shivaji Nagar police station for taking part in the protests against Kumar.
• In Goa demonstrators were reportedly not allowed to enter Azad Maidan, with the police saying they did not have permission to hold the protest.
• Bora was detained while leading a protest march from RK Ashram Marg to Connaught Place in Delhi, videos posted online showed. Protesters had been “badly beaten”, the All India Students’ Association alleged.
• In a video posted from the bus she was detained in, Bora alleged that the male protesters were verbally abused and kicked by the police. “There are four small cells in this bus,” Bora said. “Six to eight women protesters have been put in one cell.”

Are detention buses the new jails? pic.twitter.com/XFxcGxUVGg

— Neha (@neha_aisa) October 11, 2026

• The Cockroach Janta Party alleged that its representatives were detained by the police near Connaught Place. The campaign had called for a march to Jantar Mantar, saying it will continue its agitation until its demands are met.
• About 50 to 60 members of Left groups, were detained by the police as they attempted to march from Rajiv Chowk Metro station towards Janpath on the second consecutive day of protests in the national capital demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, The Hindu reported. Waves of protests have been held in the city against Kumar since October 2.

"Gyanesh Kumar Ko Jail Bhejo...Gyanesh Kumar, Istifa Do."

Young protestors from Disha Students’ Organisation and other groups march in Connaught Place in Delhi, demanding the Chief Election Commissioner's resignation. @knowleena reports pic.twitter.com/PfvtPsQOCq

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) October 11, 2026

CJP leaders released

• Earlier on Sunday, a Delhi court ordered the release of Cockroach Janta Party leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka on the condition that they do not breach the peace for one year, the campaign’s legal head Ratna Singh said.
• The three were detained from an aircraft shortly after it landed in Delhi on Saturday ahead of protests demanding Kumar’s resignation.

Press bodies condemn detentions

• The Press Club of India, the Indian Women’s Press Corps, the Delhi Union of Journalists and the Kerala Union of Working Journalists’ Delhi unit in a joint statement condemned the detention and harassment of journalists covering the protests, The New Indian Express reported.
• They said some reporters were detained despite displaying press identity cards and alleged that phones and reporting equipment were seized. The organisations have sought a public apology from Delhi Police and an inquiry.
• “Press freedom in India cannot be conditional on PIB [Press Information Bureau] accreditation,” the statement added. “A large section of digital and independent media does not have PIB cards, yet they are recognised press under the law.”

Also read: Scroll’s Ayush Tiwari, Shoaib Daniyal detained in Delhi, Divya Aslesha in Pune during CEC protests

Dhruv Rathee, Mumbai protesters released

• YouTuber Dhruv Rathee was released from Gurugram Police custody in the early hours of Sunday, The Indian Express reported.
• In a video posted after his release, Rathee said that he was not detained and rather “kidnapped by goons” on Saturday morning. He said that around 20 persons in plain clothes forcibly entered his residence at 7 am. He claimed that totally there “were more than 50 men in plainclothes around my house”.
• Rathee further claimed that the men snatched his parents’ and his mobile phone, and did not allow him to talk to his lawyer. “Narendra Modi has turned this country into a dictatorship,” Rathee said. “This is a state of unofficial emergency.”
• The Delhi Police have also released all persons from detention centres except the three CJP leaders, ANI quoted unidentified police officials as saying.
• In Mumbai, about 600 protesters who had been detained during demonstrations in solidarity of the Delhi agitation were released from police stations by night, The Times of India reported. Among the prominent persons who were detained were Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and actor Imran Khan, PTI reported.
• The Gamdevi Police have registered a first information report naming 12 persons including Tushar Gandhi, and booked more than 300 unidentified people under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to disobedience of public orders, wrongful restraint and unlawful assembly, The Times of India reported.

Traffic restrictions to continue in Delhi

• Delhi Police has issued a traffic advisory warning of diversions across central parts of the national capital from 6 am on Sunday, depending on the law and order situation.
• Restrictions will affect 30 locations, including Connaught Place, Jantar Mantar Road, Mandi House, Patel Chowk and areas around Rail Bhawan, all of which are near the Jantar Mantar protest site.
• The Northern Railways has announced that train services will return to their normal schedules from Sunday, ANI reported.
• The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation also said the entry and exit gates of all metro stations had reopened on Saturday night after 45 stations had been closed since 9 pm on Friday.
• On Saturday, along with central Delhi, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs suspended internet services in eight other locations that were designated as temporary detention centres, the Hindustan Times quoted a government order as saying. These locations were: Chhatrasal Stadium in Model Town, Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Bawana, the Yamuna Sports Complex in east Delhi, the Jasola Sports Complex in Sarita Vihar, a community centre in Daulatpur, two community centres in Chhawla, Jangli Ram Stadium in Kanjhawala and Surajmal Stadium in Nangloi.

India rejects UN concerns over detentions

• The United Nations Human Rights Office expressed concern over mass detentions and said restrictions on peaceful protests “must meet strict tests of necessity and proportionality”. It called for the immediate and unconditional release of those arbitrarily detained.
• India’s Ministry of External Affairs rejected the concerns, calling them “unwarranted” and an “unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of India”.
• The ministry said the right to peaceful assembly was guaranteed by the Constitution and accused the UN body of “extreme selectivity” in its public statements. Read more on this here.
• Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta accused the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party, Left groups and the Cockroach Janta Party of trying to turn the national capital “into a battleground” in the name of protest. “Why, after all, are these leaders so hell-bent on venting the frustration of their nonstop defeats on the public?” she asked.
• Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP of undermining democracy through alleged election manipulation and “crushing the voice of the people”. “Mogambo Modi and his associates, who have destroyed India's democracy and constitution, will not escape,” he said.

Flash protests continue at #CentralPark in Delhi despite police detentions.@knowleena reports#CECprotest pic.twitter.com/f46WT9k1zK

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) October 11, 2026

Young women are hauled away by Pune Police personnel during a protest by the Lokshahi Adhikar Sangharsh Samiti, outside the historic Shaniwarwada on October 10.

At least 100 protesters, including women students, were detained and put into vans by the Pune Police before they… pic.twitter.com/FBDsSvu7Qr

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) October 10, 2026

Follow Scroll’s coverage of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls here.

The trigger for this round of protests was a September 23 investigation by The Indian Express, which revealed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected 14 times in 10 months to decisions by the poll panel related to the special intensive revision, saying some had been taken without their knowledge. You can read more here about the report and why the exercise is controversial.

Also read:

• SIR explained: Why the voter role revision has become so controversial

• ‘Dragged out of train’: Pune students detained while on way to Delhi protest against Gyanesh Kumar

A contentious exercise

Since the exercise began in June 2025, the SIR has faced questions about the manner and pace of its implementation, amid concerns that it could deny genuine electors their right to vote and shape election outcomes, as Scroll has reported.

In May, the Supreme Court upheld the legality of the exercise, but said that it does not mean that the Election Commission can decide on whether the person is an Indian citizen.

Despite this, Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states have cited the SIR to deny ration cards to those who have been eliminated from the rolls. In some cases, the police have denied permission for their passports to be renewed.

Inputs from Nolina Minj, Tabassum Barnagarwala and Divya Aslesha. Edited by Sara Varghese, Nachiket Deuskar and Tanya Shrivastava.

Also read:

• How Modi put Delhi under siege to protect Gyanesh Kumar
• ‘Citizens being silenced’: What ordinary Indians think of the crackdown on the Delhi protests
• How TV channels covered the protests as ‘anarchy’ and ignored the detentions of journalists
• Watch: True Story: Why Gyanesh Kumar’s exit may not end the rigging of Indian elections

An eight-week online entrepreneurship bootcamp launched by Harvard Business School lets participants pitch a start-up idea to an artificial-intelligence avatar modelled on a real professor.

The HBS Foundry programme, designed to train aspiring entrepreneurs, costs $699, or roughly Rs 67,000. Participants are taken through the entire process of building a start-up, from refining an idea to pitching it to investors and customers.

The programme combines course material from Harvard Business School, AI agents trained on faculty expertise, a community of fellow entrepreneurs and simulated video conversations with AI avatars. The plan is to take Harvard’s entrepreneurship training to far more than the roughly 900 students the business school admits each year – and there are many takers, according to The New York Times.

The HBS Foundry programme raises questions about the future of higher education and the role of teachers. For India, programmes like HBS Foundry offer the expertise of renowned teachers from prestigious universities. Foreign universities that have opened campuses in India could likewise use AI avatars of their distinguished members to teach students.

Could AI professors address the shortage of quality teachers and education infrastructure in India? For instance, a survey of schools in 10 states by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences found a shortage of teachers for mathematics and science. It also noted an increase in multi-grade classrooms in government schools in rural areas, where teachers taught students from different classes together.

Students from any part of the country could have the opportunity to interact with an AI avatar created by a teacher whose direct teaching they would otherwise have no access to. When compared to listening to a teacher’s recorded lecture, students may find it easier to learn with the teacher’s AI avatar.

Katharina Rings, the HBS Foundry director, told The New York Times that during trial runs, users become more interested when what were initially designed as chatbot advisors were given the appearance of a professor. The HBS Foundry avatars imitate the knowledge and intellectual authority of professors as well as their gestures and mannerisms in the classroom. Universities have acquired their reputations partly because of the teaching of a handful of celebrated professors. Harvard is now drawing upon that academic prestige in marketing Foundry.

The technology derives its appeal from the very human beings it is ostensibly poised to replace. Are teachers becoming dispensable – like professionals in many other fields?

The experience of online teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic offers some insights. Those with access to high-speed internet, devices, electricity and adequate digital skills will benefit more from this technology. A new “AI divide” could emerge alongside the digital divide. In the context of education in Indian languages too, the lack of high-quality AI educational content could widen the existing inequality, especially between upper-caste and middle-class students with access to English.

But there is something in the relationship between a teacher and a student that cannot be easily simulated by technology. One of my students told me that the “vibe” of sitting in front of a teacher in a physical classroom was absent from online classes.

Some surveys found that in the absence of a human teacher’s physical presence in the classroom, students would fall asleep or get distracted during online classes.

Human teachers still provide a unique classroom experience – however precarious their position is becoming. A teacher is often a formative presence in a student’s life, The warmth, trust and sense of personal connection that grow between teacher and student are difficult to reproduce through an AI avatar.

The advent of the AI avatar could push human teachers to rethink how they impart knowledge to learners. AI avatars can provide information, but only a teacher, drawing on their unique knowledge and perception, can push students to think critically, make connections and encourage broader discussions.

Teachers will have to become facilitators of social development of their students, performing the role of mentors and friends. So far, at least, an AI avatar is incapable of performing these functions.

The evidence from Harvard suggests that even sophisticated AI needs a human professor from whom to learn how to be a professor. Thomas Eisenmann, one of HBS Foundry professors, spoke of this paradox to The New York Times, noting that students “love AI. They use AI. They’re learning a lot. But it keeps coming back to humanity”.

Angshuman Kar is Professor of English at The University of Burdwan and a well-known Bengali poet-cum-novelist.

Protesters in parts of Maharashtra and Goa faced police restrictions and detentions on Sunday while seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the conduct of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

In Mumbai, the Cockroach Janta Party had called for a protest at 4 pm, but demonstrators were not allowed to assemble near Shivaji Park. Some were detained at Dadar station itself, while others were detained even for walking near the area.

Mumbai Police begin detaining Shiv Sena leaders and local protestors who were protesting outside Shiv Sena Bhawan.@tabassum_b reports pic.twitter.com/OPH3vGcO30

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) October 11, 2026

The Mumbai Police also detained Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leaders and local protesters who were demonstrating outside Shiv Sena Bhawan. Uddhav Sena leader Aditya Thackeray climbed onto a police van in an attempt to stop it from taking away the protesters.

Uddhav Sena leader Aditya Thackeray climbs onto a police van to stop it from taking away the protestors who were protesting outside Shiv Sena Bhawan in Mumbai.@tabassum_b reports pic.twitter.com/bZsh3bxgiq

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) October 11, 2026

In Pune, about 80 to 100 protesters, including members of Left groups, were detained during a demonstration at Good Luck Chowk. A protester told Scroll over the phone that those detained were taken in police vans to Shivajinagar Police Station. People later gathered outside the station, shouting slogans and demanding their release.

All protesters were released by night.

In Goa, protesters were prevented from entering Azad Maidan in Panaji, where a demonstration had been scheduled. The main gates were locked and a police battalion was deployed around the venue.

Protestors have gathered outside Azad Maidan in Goa’s Panjim. Police not letting them enter the site saying protestors do not have permission pic.twitter.com/m7fKM85cr3

— Shreya Raman (@shreyaraman18) October 11, 2026

Some protesters who climbed over the low wall around Azad Maidan were detained by the police.

On Saturday, about 600 protesters were detained in Mumbai during demonstrations held in solidarity with the agitation in Delhi. They were released later that night. Among those detained were Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and actor Imran Khan.

The trigger for this round of protests was a September 23 investigation by The Indian Express, which revealed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected 14 times in 10 months to decisions by the poll panel related to the special intensive revision, saying some had been taken without their knowledge. You can read more here about the report and why the exercise is controversial.

A contentious exercise

Since the exercise began in June 2025, the SIR has faced questions about the manner and pace of its implementation, amid concerns that it could deny genuine electors their right to vote and shape election outcomes, as Scroll has reported.

In May, the Supreme Court upheld the legality of the exercise, but said that it does not mean that the Election Commission can decide on whether the person is an Indian citizen.

Despite this, Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states have cited the SIR to deny ration cards to those who have been eliminated from the rolls. In some cases, the police have denied permission for their passports to be renewed.

Inputs from Divya Aslesha. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

Follow the coverage of the protests against CEC here.

On October 2, Maharashtra is set to begin issuing the Women Farmers Certificates under the newly enacted Women Farmer’s Empowerment Act 2026. The certificates will formally recognise women engaged in agriculture or allied activities as farmers, even when they do not own the land.

The Women Farmers Certificates will open doors for lakhs of women who sow, tend, harvest and manage our agri-foods systems, as well as livestock, poultry and fisheries, but are often left out of the formal definition of a farmer. Maharashtra has shown political will and a clear sense of urgency in bringing women farmers’ needs into the spotlight and leading by example.

Feminisation of agriculture

We have been witnessing feminisation of agriculture for some time now. As men move to non-farm jobs, women have increasingly taken up the role of managing and maintaining the agricultural lands.

But this has often meant more responsibility without a corresponding rise in control, assets or decision-making power. Without land titles, they also struggle to access critical resources such as credit, water, technology and extension services, reducing them to labourers in a sector they largely sustain.

Nationally, women make up close to 60% of the agricultural workforce as reported by the Periodic Labour Force Survey and shared by the Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Ramnath Thakur recently in Parliament, but they hold less than 15% of land titles.

In Maharashtra, 82% of the rural female workforce is engaged in agriculture, yet women hold only about 15.5% of operational farmland. Empowering women farmers through law is therefore an important first step.

Maharashtra has often demonstrated the change that can follow with such empowerment. For instance, in Vidarbha, one of the regions most affected by agrarian crisis, the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation worked with women farmers in Wardha and Yavatmal districts under the Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana initiative, which went on to become a national programme under the National Rural Livelihood Mission.

It focused on vulnerable groups, including widows of farmers affected by agrarian distress. The programme combined sustainable agriculture practices with leadership training and collective organisation in the form of local collectives, or samitis, enhanced their access to knowledge, resources, and institutional support. Gradually, it helped women assert their identity as farmers rather than invisible workers.

The lessons from Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana were clear: when women receive support, agriculture becomes stronger. Women farmers are quick adopters of practical solutions, despite their lack of formal education. Training in climate-resilient farming, resource management, and drudgery-reducing technologies is not merely technical, it is deeply empowering for them. When scientific knowledge is combined with women’s own lived experience, better decisions follow.

Collective institutions also matter. Agricultural markets, particularly mandis, are still male-dominated spaces. Women also frequently face barriers such as poor mobility, lack of market and price information, and inadequate infrastructure, such as storage and processing facilities. This pushes them into distress sales through middlemen. Self-Help Groups, cooperatives, and Farmer Producer Organisations, can help women overcome these barriers by improving access to credit, inputs, markets and leadership opportunities.

Over the years, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation has done extensive work with collectives such as Farmer Producer Organisations and Self-Help Groups across several states. The impact of these efforts is visible on the ground. Support for diversified livelihoods including livestock rearing, fisheries, and value-added processing has improved incomes and enhanced resilience. Women-led enterprises in post-harvest processing have created new routes to financial independence. As women gain recognition for their economic role, the larger promise of gender justice moves closer.

Climate change makes the case for women farmers even stronger. With fewer assets and weaker safety nets, women are often the first to feel the impact of drought, heat and crop loss. Yet, they are also among the strongest drivers of adaptation. Programmes in climate-resilient agriculture show that when women combine traditional wisdom with modern science, they can lead sustainable resource management from seed conservation to eco-friendly farming practices.

Maharashtra takes lead

The journey towards the Maharashtra Women Farmers Empowerment Act began with a meeting with the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in September 2025. Soon after, the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation and the Maharashtra government formalised a partnership with a Memorandum of Understanding to work together towards this objective.

The MS Swaminathan Research Foundation then formed a technical advisory group, and the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy came on board as the legal drafting partner.

What makes this legislation significant is the process through which it has been shaped. Women farmers were at the heart of the consultations, alongside civil society organisations, farmers network, bankers, lawyers, researchers and frontline government officials.

The consultations began in Mumbai in January 2026 and continued through regional meetings in Pune, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, and Nagpur. Each round of consultation brought new feedback and suggestions, helping shape and strengthen the draft Bill.

The women farmers spoke about how they were unable to access many government schemes and subsidies as initiatives under the Agricultural Technology Management Agency, and others are linked to land ownership. Access to schemes such as subsidised pumps, irrigation subsidies, crop insurance, livestock insurance, Kisan Credit Card, and access to agricultural credit were hard to come by. They also spoke about being left out of the Agristack, the digital database for farmers that is based on land records alone.

Other suggestions included lowering interest rates for credit taken in women’s names or amending the existing Lakshmi Mukti Yojna to incentivise families to add women’s names on family land records. They highlighted that PM-KISAN Yojna is meant to benefit farmer families, however, requires a farmer ID that is usually linked with men’s bank accounts, thereby reducing women’s direct access to such benefits. After several rounds of discussion and revision, the Bill was approved by the Cabinet and tabled in the Legislative Assembly during the monsoon session.

On July 2, 2026, the bill was passed unanimously in the Legislative Assembly and subsequently in the Legislative Council. From the first meeting in September 2025 to the unanimous passage of the Bill in July 2026, the process took just 10 months. It is a powerful example of what can happen when political will and a clear understanding of why empowering women matters.

Key highlights of the act

The Act broadens the definition of agriculture and farmer to include any person who is engaged in crop husbandry, animal husbandry, poultry, fishery, agroforestry, vermiculture, mushroom cultivation, primary processing, etc. either as owner or labourer.

Defining “farmer” was crucial: it had to go beyond land-based cultivators to include the many ways women actually work in agriculture. The National Policy for Farmers (2007) offers a more holistic definition, centred on the work performed rather than on land ownership. Using this definition allowed focus on what women do in farming, not just what they own.

The Act also makes provision for a Women Farmer Empowerment Cell at the State level, a State Level Monitoring Committee to oversee and monitor implementation of the law, a Women Farmers’ Database that includes information of every woman farmer to whom a WFC has been issued, and Women Farmers’ Assistance Officers at each district and block of the State to assist women in obtaining Women Farmers Certificates and guide on other entitlements.

For many rural women in Maharashtra, the Act can enable extension and training in climate-resilient practices that improve both productivity and nutrition, skill acquisition and access to entitlements.

What is available under existing schemes must be ensured, and new schemes will also have to be designed. The certificate alone might not remove the barriers that have existed for decades. If the policies and systems governing services like credit, insurance, government programmes, and market opportunities, recognise women as farmers and accept the certificate as proof of their farmer status, a truly new chapter can begin for them.

But more importantly, this Act will change who we see as a “farmer”.

For too long, the image of a farmer has been that of a man working in a field, even though the reality is far more diverse. A farmer is also a woman working in the field. A farmer is also a woman or man engaged in poultry, fisheries, livestock rearing, beekeeping and a range of other activities that drive our food systems.

However, recognition alone is not the same as ownership. For this Act to bring in real transformation, states must embed gender-equitable land governance within their revenue and land administration frameworks, including the provision and enforcement of joint land titles.

Legal rights over land ensure decision-making authority even when the woman exits agricultural work, marries again, or no longer resides within the household – all of which remains outside the scope of the WFC. It provides women with negotiating power from a position grounded in entitlement rather than conditional support.

Delinking a farmer’s identity from land ownership is an important first step. The next crucial step is to build awareness about the law and the entitlements the Act provides. As Maharashtra prepares to issue the first Women Farmers Certificates, we must hear from the ground how women farmers are using these new rights and opportunities to improve their lives and livelihoods.

The real test will be in the implementation of the certification system to offer a pathway to stronger rights rather than serving as an end point in itself. The task now is to ensure that the Act translates into meaningful change on the ground, and its success inspires others states to follow Maharashtra’s lead.

Dr Soumya Swaminathan is the Chair at MS Swaminathan Research Foundation.

This article was first published on Mongabay.

The Cockroach Janta Party on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of shielding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, as its leaders addressed their first press conference after being released from detention, The Hindu reported.

Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained on Saturday, minutes after their flights landed at Delhi Airport ahead of protests demanding Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the conduct of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls. A Delhi court on Sunday ordered their release on the condition that they do not breach the peace for one year.

During the press conference, CJP leader Saurav Das alleged that the government was suppressing peaceful dissent to protect the chief election commissioner and said the country was being pushed towards a “civil-war-like situation”.

“The state is at war with its own citizens,” Das said. He also accused the government of targeting journalists during the protests.

“The government has completely lost it…,” Das said. “All to protect Gyanesh Kumar, who is traitor number one. The government is scared that these youth who are awakened will seek answers. Hence, they are resorting to violence.”

“The entire country is facing an emergency-like situation,” he said.

On the detention of the CJP leaders, Das alleged that the police had forcibly seized their phones and did not provide them with a seizure memo.

A seizure memo is an official document prepared by authorities to record the confiscation of property, cash, documents, or digital devices during a search.

He said the police had kept their phones for more than 24 hours and alleged that the devices might have been hacked or cloned.

“We think they hacked our phones or cloned them,” he said. “Like they have done to other activists in the past, maybe they planted evidence and this is a very rational and reasonable doubt.”

Das also alleged that the CJP leaders were not allowed to meet their lawyers.

He urged the youth across India to stage peaceful protests in their cities.

Meanwhile, the CJP and student groups affiliated with Left parties have called for fresh protests in Delhi on Sunday, a day after thousands of protesters, Opposition leaders, activists, lawyers and journalists were detained across the capital. The campaign has also called for a protest in Mumbai at 4 pm.

Among those detained on Saturday were former Chief Ministers Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Pinarayi Vijayan and Manik Sarkar, as well as journalists, including Scroll reporters Ayush Tiwari and Shoaib Daniyal in Delhi and Divya Aslesha in Pune.

The Delhi Police had released all detainees on Saturday night except the CJP leaders.

A contentious exercise

Since the exercise began in June 2025, the SIR has faced questions about the manner and pace of its implementation, amid concerns that it could deny genuine electors their right to vote and shape election outcomes, as Scroll has reported.

In May, the Supreme Court upheld the legality of the exercise, but said that it does not mean that the Election Commission can decide on whether the person is an Indian citizen.

Despite this, Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states have cited the SIR to deny ration cards to those who have been eliminated from the rolls. In some cases, the police have denied permission for their passports to be renewed.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

Also read:

• How Modi put Delhi under siege to protect Gyanesh Kumar
• ‘Citizens being silenced’: What ordinary Indians think of the crackdown on the Delhi protests
• How TV channels covered the protests as ‘anarchy’ and ignored the detentions of journalists
• Watch: True Story: Why Gyanesh Kumar’s exit may not end the rigging of Indian elections

Four men seen assaulting persons protesting against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in Delhi on Saturday have been arrested, The Hindu quoted an unidentified police officer as saying.

The men purportedly claimed to be members of the Hindutva organisation Hindu Rakshak Dal.

A widely shared video of the incident shows a man beating a male protester while a woman tries to stop him. It also shows another man hitting a woman and pushing her to the ground, while a police officer can be seen at the spot.

The police took suo moto cognisance of the incident based on the video, The Indian Express quoted an unidentified police officer as saying.

The persons accused in the case have been identified as Raman Saini (50), Vivekanand alias Vivek (32), Kapil Kumar (27) and Ravinder Singh alias Govind Hindu (35).

The incident took place on a stretch of DDU Marg under the jurisdiction of Kamla Market Police Station, the newspaper reported.

DEEPLY DISTURBING!

BJP-RSS goons beating a young girl in the presence of Delhi Police, with an officer seemingly guiding them to stop the recording.

Why is Delhi Police helping goons attack peaceful protestors instead of protecting them? Who gave them this free hand? pic.twitter.com/2JeT40wrx2

— Cockroach Janta Party - CJP (@Cockroachisback) October 10, 2026

The Cockroach Janta Party, which also shared the video on social media, described the incident as “deeply disturbing”. It alleged that the men assaulting the protesters were “goons” of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

The political campaign also accused the Delhi Police of helping the “goons” instead of protecting the protesters.

“BJP-RSS goons beating a young girl in the presence of Delhi Police, with an officer seemingly guiding them to stop the recording,” the political campaign said in a social media post.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also shared a screenshot from the video and said the Delhi Police, which comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs headed by Union minister Amit Shah, had “descended into thuggery”.

He added that the police were openly “giving license and encouragement” to the “real goons of RSS-BJP” to unleash violence against women and youth.

अमित शाह की दिल्ली पुलिस खुद तो गुंडागर्दी पर उतर ही आई - RSS-BJP के असली गुंडों को भी महिलाओं और युवाओं पर हिंसा करने की खुली छूट और बढ़ावा दे रही है।

जैसा मैंने कहा था, Mogambo Modi और उसकी सरकार जितना दबाएगी, Gen Z और छात्रों का गुस्सा उतना ही बढ़ेगा।

सोमवार, 12 अक्टूबर को… pic.twitter.com/UNAKSDwdxJ

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) October 10, 2026

The protest on Saturday had been called by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign and student groups affiliated with Left parties. Protests have been held in several parts of the country in recent weeks, calling for Kumar’s resignation over concerns about the functioning of the Election Commission and its handling of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

Protest against Gyanesh Kumar

Ahead of the demonstration on Saturday, the police imposed several restrictions to deter protesters from gathering in the national capital, in what the organisers described as intimidation by the authorities. The measures include detaining persons, cancelling trains, closing 45 metro stations and suspending mobile internet in central Delhi.

Among the thousands detained were former Chief Ministers Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Pinarayi Vijayan and Manik Sarkar, as well as journalists, including Scroll reporters Ayush Tiwari and Shoaib Daniyal in Delhi and Divya Aslesha in Pune.

Activists and lawyers, including activists Neha Bora, Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and Jean Drèze, were also detained, along with other Opposition leaders and protesters.

The Delhi Police have released all detainees. The Cockroach Janta Party and Left groups have called for fresh protests in the national capital on Sunday.

Written by Anamika Pathak. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

Also read: ‘Citizens being silenced’: What ordinary Indians think of the crackdown on the Delhi protests

The Supreme Court on Sunday passed an interim order directing that people peacefully assembling to protest must not be illegally detained “except save by law”, The Hindu reported.

It directed that metro and railway services function normally, internet services remain undisturbed in accordance with law, and free movement of people and traffic be permitted in Delhi, Live Law reported.

The court also directed that lawyers must not be obstructed from discharging their professional duties.

A bench of Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana was hearing petitions challenging the detention of protesters and restrictions on public transport during Saturday’s demonstrations demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

During the hearing, lawyers alleged that the police had detained persons beyond the area covered by restrictions that prohibited gatherings, suspended internet services and prevented lawyers from moving freely and discharging their professional duties, The Hindu reported.

Advocate Menaka Guruswamy, who petitioned the court over the detentions, questioned whether a state of emergency had effectively been imposed, the newspaper reported. She argued that young persons had taken to the streets because they believed “the electoral system was not free and fair”.

Advocate Kapil Sibal told the court that protesters were being picked up from trains and from outside the four-kilometre area covered by prohibitory orders.

However, in response, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta claimed before the court that there had been “no curtailment” of metro services on Saturday, The Hindu reported.

“Zero reduction in the total volume of metro,” he was quoted as saying. “Entry and exit regulations restricted to 45 stations. If one station is closed, the neighbouring one was open.”

The hearing followed extensive restrictions imposed across the capital on Saturday, including barricades, traffic curbs, closures of 45 metro station gates and the suspension of mobile internet services in parts of central Delhi.

The railways had cancelled at least 245 trains beginning and ending at stations in Delhi, The Indian Express reported. Two other trains were rescheduled and nine were short terminated and short originated.

Initially, the authorities had planned to close 57 metro stations on Saturday. Following this, the Supreme Court had on Friday directed that there cannot be a complete shutdown of metro services or other public transport ahead of the protests.

On Sunday, the bench said it had taken note of the alleged violations of its earlier order.

It directed the authorities to submit a short affidavit to explain why contempt proceedings should not be initiated, Live Law reported.

The case will be heard next on Tuesday.

Edited by Sara Varghese and Nachiket Deuskar.

Also read:

• How Modi put Delhi under siege to protect Gyanesh Kumar
• ‘Citizens being silenced’: What ordinary Indians think of the crackdown on the Delhi protests
• How TV channels covered the protests as ‘anarchy’ and ignored the detentions of journalists

The United Nations Human Rights Office on Saturday expressed concern over the mass detention of protesters in Delhi during demonstrations demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, saying restrictions on peaceful protests “must meet strict tests of necessity and proportionality”.

The UN body called for the immediate and unconditional release of those arbitrarily detained.

India rejected the concerns, describing them as “misplaced” and “an unwarranted interference in the internal affairs of India”.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called on the Indian authorities to respect the right to peaceful assembly.

It said that it was “concerned by reports of mass detentions of demonstrators, protest leaders, members of civil society organisations, lawyers and journalists, before and during today’s large-scale demonstrations in Delhi”.

UN Human Rights spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan urged the authorities to engage in “meaningful dialogue” to address the concerns raised by protesters.

Responding to the remarks, the Ministry of External Affairs accused the UN body of having an “approach of extreme selectivity” regarding public positions.

“Violent responses to protests in our neighbourhood have gone uncommented, as indeed have law enforcement actions in its own vicinity,” the ministry said. “Such double standards only erode the credibility of its standing and contribute to the loss of faith in multilateralism.”

It said that India is the world’s largest democracy and citizens have the right to peaceful assembly, as guaranteed by the Constitution and “safeguarded by robust institutions, an independent judiciary and a free media”.

It added that, as in every democracy, Indians exercise this right “subject to the maintenance of public order and safety”.

“Our law enforcement authorities act strictly in accordance with the law, and our courts remain available to all for the redressal of any grievances,” the statement read.

Earlier, India’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva had urged the UN body to devote comparable attention to large-scale protests elsewhere, “consistent with its mandate of impartiality and non-selectivity”.

The protest at Jantar Mantar had been called by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign and student groups affiliated to the Left parties.

In recent weeks, protests have been held in several parts of the country calling for Kumar to resign over concerns about the functioning of the Election Commission and its handling of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

The demonstrations on Saturday were expected to begin at 10 am, according to the organisers. However, Cockroach Janta Party leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained from inside an aircraft by the police shortly after they arrived in Delhi.

Ahead of the demonstration on Saturday, the police imposed several restrictions to deter protesters from gathering in the national capital, in what the organisers described as intimidation by the authorities. The measures include detaining persons, cancelling trains, closing 45 metro stations and suspending mobile internet in central Delhi.

Among the thousands detained were former Chief Ministers Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Pinarayi Vijayan and Manik Sarkar, as well as journalists, including Scroll reporters Ayush Tiwari and Shoaib Daniyal in Delhi and Divya Aslesha in Pune.

Activists and lawyers, including activists Neha Bora, Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and Jean Drèze, were also detained, along with other Opposition leaders and protesters.

The Delhi Police have released all detainees except Cockroach Janta Party leaders, The Indian Express reported

On Sunday morning, Ratna Singh, the political campaign’s legal head, said that Dipke, Das and Ranka would be produced before a special executive magistrate court in Delhi Cantonment at 9 am.

Also read:

• SIR explained: Why the voter role revision has become so controversial

• ‘Dragged out of train’: Pune students detained while on way to Delhi protest against Gyanesh Kumar

CJP, Left groups to continue protests

The CJP has called for another protest march to Jantar Mantar on Sunday, with Left groups also announcing plans to join the fresh demonstrations.

Delhi Police has issued a traffic advisory warning of diversions across central parts of the national capital from 6 am on Sunday, depending on the law and order situation.

Restrictions may affect 30 locations, including Connaught Place, Jantar Mantar Road, Mandi House, Patel Chowk and areas around Rail Bhawan.

Northern Railway has announced that train services will return to their normal schedules from Sunday, ANI reported.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation also said the entry and exit gates of all metro stations had reopened on Saturday night after 45 stations had been closed since 9 pm on Friday.

Edited by Sara Varghese.

• Also read: Conflict of interest concerns follow CEC Gyanesh Kumar from Sambhal to the Supreme Court

• Roadblocks to democracy: What’s really at stake when the state restricts transport services?

• Watch: True Story: Why Gyanesh Kumar’s exit may not end the rigging of Indian elections

Scroll journalists Ayush Tiwari and Shoaib Daniyal were detained in Delhi, and Divya Aslesha in Pune on Saturday while covering protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Journalists from Newslaundry, The Quint, the Navbharat Times, Reuters, Alt News, Boom Live, Molitics and Reporter TV were also detained.

Tiwari was detained near ITO. He was not at the Jantar Mantar protest site and had prominently displayed his press card. Tiwari told the police several times that he was a journalist, but he was put into a van and taken away.

“I literally shouted out to say I am a journalist,” Tiwari said. “But the police said everyone is claiming to be a journalist.”

Daniyal, Scroll’s political editor, was detained by the police near CR Park, which is not in central Delhi. He was detained while waiting for a taxi.

Aslesha was detained near Pune’s Shaniwar Wada, despite showing her press card.

My colleague, one of India's best investigative reporters, Ayush Tiwari @sighyush has been detained by Delhi Police near ITO.

He was not even at Jantar Mantar.

He had his press card prominently displayed.

He told the police many times he was a journalist.

Despite that he was…

— Supriya Sharma (@sharmasupriya) October 10, 2026

“What’s my offence? Why are you detaining me?”

My colleague @ShoaibDaniyal was simply standing on the road in a South Delhi locality, waiting for a taxi, when he was picked up by Delhi Police. pic.twitter.com/fRhiThIP0Q

— Supriya Sharma (@sharmasupriya) October 10, 2026

Now a third journalist from @scroll_in detained.

Our colleague Divya Aslesha, detained in Pune. pic.twitter.com/9uutldjhkE

— Supriya Sharma (@sharmasupriya) October 10, 2026

From Newslaundry, reporters Anmol Pritam, Ashwine Kumar Singh, Astha Savyasachi and Anshu Gupta were detained, the news outlet stated.

When the journalists identified themselves as members of the media, they were purportedly told: “Koi media nahin hai (No one is the media).”

Two journalists with the Navbharat Times, Hritik Joshi and Rahul Charas, were also detained while they were reporting, the newspaper’s Editor Ashish Pandey said on social media.

“They misbehaved with Rahul too,” Pandey said. “Our team was carrying clear and visible media ID cards.”

The Quint’s journalist Sarthak Jaiswal was detained and taken to Chanakyapuri Police Station earlier in the day, the news outlet reported.

The Delhi Police have also detained journalist Saurabh Sharma, who works with Reuters.

Boom Live reporter Jagriti Trisha was detained for three hours. She was released far away from the location from where she was detained, the organisation’s Managing Editor Jency Jacob said.

Molitics reporter Amaan was also detained despite him telling the police that he is a journalist. Videos of his detention were shared by other journalists online.

Shivang Shukla, a creator with Mo, a digital video brand of India Today, was also detained.

Roshni Rajan and Farza TM, two women journalists covering the protests for Malayalam news channel Reporter TV, were allegedly dragged away by the police.

Alt News’ senior correspondent Kinjal was detained by the police in Ahmedabad for more than three hours.

Read on:

• ‘Everybody claims to be a journalist these days’: Delhi Police detain Scroll’s Ayush Tiwari
• What Delhi Police told Scroll’s Shoaib Daniyal while detaining him 21 km away from Jantar Mantar

Global media watchdog seeks journalists’ release

The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Delhi Police to immediately release all detained journalists and media professionals, return their equipment, investigate reports of physical abuse and allow the press to cover the demonstrations without interference.

“A free and independent press is essential to a democracy,” the global media watchdog said on social media.

The committee said it was closely monitoring the situation and confirmed the detention of Scroll and Newslaundry journalists. “We are working to identify other detained journalists and media workers,” it added.

Digipub News India Foundation, an association of independent digital news organisations and journalists of which Scroll is a member, also demanded the journalists’ immediate release.

The association condemned the “arbitrary and authoritarian action” taken by the Delhi Police, saying that detaining reporters despite their press credentials amounted to “intimidation” and was “an assault on press freedom and constitutional rights”.

“Journalism is not a crime, and neither is protest,” it said, adding that the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression were constitutional rights.

“If the powerful cannot withstand being watched and challenged, the fault lies in their conduct, not in our cameras or the people’s voices,” it added.

The protest at Jantar Mantar has been organised by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign and student groups affiliated to the Left parties.

In recent weeks, protests have been held in several parts of the country calling for Kumar to resign over concerns about the functioning of the Election Commission and its handling of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

The demonstrations were expected to begin at 10 am, according to the organisers.

The police have denied permission for the protest.

Ahead of the demonstration, the police imposed several restrictions to deter protesters from gathering in the national capital, in what the organisers described as intimidation by the authorities. The measures include detaining persons, cancelling trains, closing 45 metro stations and suspending mobile internet in central Delhi.

Hundreds of protesters and political leaders were detained by the police on Saturday from across the city.

Cockroach Janta Party leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained from inside an aircraft shortly after they arrived in Delhi. YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and the campaign’s legal affairs head Ratna Singh were detained from other locations in the national capital.

Edited by Sara Varghese, Sneha and Nachiket Deuskar.

Follow updates of the protest at Jantar Mantar here.

Follow Scroll’s coverage of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls here.

A Delhi executive magistrate court on Sunday ordered the release of Cockroach Janta Party leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, the campaign’s legal head Ratna Singh said.

The court ordered their release on the condition that they maintain peace and do not breach it for one year, Singh added.

The three were detained on Saturday from inside an aircraft shortly after it landed in Delhi ahead of a protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

YouTuber Dhruv Rathee was also released from Gurugram Police custody in the early hours of Sunday, The Indian Express reported. He had been detained from his home ahead of Saturday’s protests.

The protests had been called by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign and student groups affiliated to the Left parties.

Among the thousands detained during the day were former Chief Ministers Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Pinarayi Vijayan and Manik Sarkar, as well as journalists, including Scroll reporters Ayush Tiwari and Shoaib Daniyal in Delhi and Divya Aslesha in Pune.

Activists and lawyers, including activists Neha Bora, Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and Jean Drèze, were also detained, along with other Opposition leaders and protesters.

The Delhi Police released all detainees on Saturday night except the Cockroach Janta Party leaders, The Indian Express reported.

In recent weeks, protests have been held in several parts of the country calling for Kumar to resign over concerns about the functioning of the Election Commission and its handling of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

Ahead of the demonstrations, the police imposed several restrictions to deter protesters from gathering in the national capital, in what the organisers described as intimidation by the authorities. The measures include detaining persons, cancelling trains, closing 45 metro stations and suspending mobile internet in central Delhi.

The Cockroach Janta Party and Left groups have called for fresh protests in the national capital on Sunday.

Edited by Sara Varghese.

Also read: ‘Citizens being silenced’: What ordinary Indians think of the crackdown on the Delhi protests

Around 4.30 pm on Saturday, Republic TV, the news channel helmed by Arnab Goswami, flashed this headline on television screens across the country: “CJP Flop Show”.

It referred to the protests in Delhi, called by the Cockroach Janta Party and Left student outfits, against the special intensive revision of voter lists – a controversial exercise that has disenfranchised millions, driving many Indians to take to the streets and demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

By the time Republic TV flashed that headline, credible reports about the police having detained over a dozen journalists for simply reporting on the protests, including three from Scroll, had been in circulation for hours. Many of these journalists were detained while they were documenting how the police were clamping down on protesters.

The high-handedness of the authorities, even towards fellow members of the press, found no mention in Republic TV’s coverage. The same broadly held true for other Hindi and English television news channels as well. Their reporters and anchors limited themselves to broadcasting the police and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s point of view on the protests for most of Saturday.

I was recording police trying to detain protesters at HKS Surjeet Bhawan near ITO when I was detained. @scroll_in pic.twitter.com/zXvSOHh7ug

— Ayush Tiwari (@sighyush) October 10, 2026

Some of them framed the protesters as “criminals”, opting for an alarmist and conspiratorial tone while describing the demonstrations that took place across the national capital. “Araajakta”, the Hindi word for anarchy, repeatedly appeared in the tickers running on several Hindi channels.

In parallel, journalists from independent newsrooms, who were on the ground in Delhi, complained about a shift in the police’s conduct towards them between the protests in June-July and those on Saturday. They alleged that the police had suddenly become more suspicious of their credentials, blocked their access to Central Delhi and, on occasion, even bundled them into buses with protesters.

Calling protesters ‘criminals’

From morning till evening, television channels mostly focussed on the police bandobast in the high-security area of Central Delhi in their coverage of the protests. This screenshot from NDTV India, for example, shows the kind of information that viewers were being bombarded with. “20,000 personnel deployed”, “35 temporary jails”, “seven-layer barricading” and “300 CCTV cameras watching”.

“This area is so close to the Parliament,” an NDTV India reporter wondered on air. “How did these people get here?”

The anchor was no different. “How did so many CJP supporters reach this place?” she, too, asked. At the same time, she made sure to repeat every few minutes that the situation was “normal” and that no “stampede” or “tension” seemed evident.

At one point during the broadcast, a visual appeared on the screen with the text “600+ criminals in custody”. Neither the reporter nor the anchor bothered to explain why that label was used for protesters and if they actually had any criminal antecedents.

The number of detainees rose through the day. But even the television channels that did report the high number of detentions followed that up by suggesting that the protest was a failure.

ABP News told its viewers that 1,500 people had been detained across Delhi. However, the banner it ran on top of the screen asked: “Could not get support… Has this CJP demonstration failed?”

It then flashed “breaking news” about stone throwing that had allegedly taken place in Connaught Place’s Hanuman Lane early in the evening. “Six police officers injured,” read the text on the screen.

Aaj Tak, India Today, Republic Bharat and Republic TV streamed a BJP news conference addressed by former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in its entirety. Prasad passionately defended the Election Commission, arguing its special intensive revision of rolls was needed to weed out “illegal immigrants”. He also held forth about “anarchy”.

The BJP leader was not alone. ABP News kept using that word all day as well. “Movement Vs Anarchy… Anything goes in the name of protests!” said one of its headlines in the afternoon. “Is this anger or the spirit of anarchy?” asked another in the evening.

Different ground rules

This sort of framing from the mainstream media does not come out of the blue. In June, television channels had largely blacked out the protests at Jantar Mantar, adding to the widespread disenchantment with the media among protesters.

An escalation of the protests in the third week of July finally brought television reporters to the spot, but they were met with heckling from the crowds. At the same time, a host of independent video journalists whose work focuses on youth discontent have mushroomed, particularly in and around Delhi.

On Saturday, the difference between these two groups was quite apparent, especially in how Delhi Police were treating them.

Television reporters largely restricted themselves to reporting in and around Jantar Mantar. While they were able to cover that part of the city, several independent journalists and even reporters from smaller newsrooms were blocked from entering Central Delhi.

Scroll reporters Vaishnavi Rathore and Kritika Pant were stopped at a police checkpoint in South Delhi 5 km away from Jantar Mantar and asked to produce cards issued by the Press Information Bureau.

“When I tried telling the police officer that I was from a digital newsroom, he argued, ‘Anybody can start a media house like this. Why should I believe you?’” said Rathore. “This did not happen when I had covered the protests in July.”

The police subjected journalists who were not carrying “big cameras, big mics” to greater scrutiny, she added. Not only reporters from smaller newsrooms, even those from legacy newspapers got caught in the crossfire. Rathore and Pant spoke to a journalist from Business Standard whom two police officers had dragged by her shirt before detaining her on Saturday.

This is how Delhi Police is treating journalists. Even those who have press badges on them.

Hear the account of the journalist in the next tweet. pic.twitter.com/7uzvno572A

— Supriya Sharma (@sharmasupriya) October 10, 2026

Similarly, Ayush Tiwari, another Scroll reporter, was detained earlier in the morning despite showing his press card to the police. “Everybody claims to be a journalist these days,” a police officer told him.

“The police seemed a little more suspicious of people with phones,” said Raghav Kakkar, another Scroll reporter who was on the ground. “It was better for those with cameras. In my six years as a journalist in Delhi, I have covered the citizenship protests, the farmers’ protest and many other protests. But today was the first time that I was asked if I had a Press Information Bureau card.”

In 1990, when VS Naipaul published India: A Million Mutinies Now, he gave India a phrase that has acquired an almost prophetic resonance: “a country of a million little mutinies.”

He was not predicting a revolution. He was describing something more consequential – the awakening of the individual.

Naipaul had returned to a country that had changed dramatically since his earlier, far darker journeys through India. He saw people emerging from the inherited certainties of caste, class, family, religion, region and tradition, demanding that they be allowed to decide for themselves who they were and what their lives ought to mean.

Emergence from dominant political thoughts was part of this process. His most important insight was that freedom does not necessarily arrive looking orderly.

“Independence was worked for by people more or less at the top; the freedom it brought has worked its way down,” he wrote. And then came the crucial observation: “People everywhere have ideas now of who they are and what they owe themselves.”

That is the heart of Naipaul’s argument.

Freedom creates expectations. Expectations create demands. Demands create friction. And friction creates protest. Naipaul understood something that comfortable democracies, and especially governments confident of their own righteousness, can easily forget – a society becoming freer is not necessarily a society becoming quieter.

Indeed, sometimes the opposite is true.

“The liberation of spirit that has come to India,” Naipaul wrote, “could not come as release alone.” Given India’s “layer upon layer of distress and cruelty,” it had to arrive as “rage and revolt.”

And then the unforgettable sentence: “India was now a country of a million little mutinies.”

There is something profoundly democratic in that formulation. Gen-Z seeking accountability. Dalits asserting dignity. Women refusing inherited subordination. Young people rejecting occupations prescribed by family or caste. Members of minority communities demanding recognition. Geographic regions insisting that their voices be heard. Workers demanding a fairer bargain. Students questioning authority. Citizens refusing to accept that power is intrinsically entitled to obedience.

These are not necessarily signs of a country falling apart. They were, as Naipaul also believed, signs of a country coming alive.

Naipaul’s great contribution was to understand that the disturbances accompanying social emancipation should not automatically be confused with social decay. Time, reviewing the book in 1991, described it as Naipaul’s appreciation of how individual freedom was beginning to take hold in everyday Indian life and break down the accumulated structures of “distress and cruelty.”

That insight deserves to be remembered today. India once again manifests its mutinies.

They come from different directions and cannot honestly be reduced to one ideology. Young Indians are protesting. Farmers are protesting. Citizens are questioning institutions and their protected functionaries. Some protests are progressive, some conservative, some contradictory, some admirable, some even deeply flawed.

A democracy is not healthy because everyone agrees. It is healthy when people believe they have the right to disagree. And there is a particularly uncomfortable lesson here for those who have made nationalism synonymous with conformity.

Naipaul was hardly a fashionable left-wing intellectual. He was frequently critical of the Indian Left, deeply suspicious of romanticised revolutionary politics and, later in life, was embraced by sections of the Hindu Right. Yet his intellectual independence makes his insight more interesting. He did not suggest that Indians should become obedient subjects of a new political orthodoxy simply because the old ones had been challenged.

His India was a country in which people were acquiring the confidence to say, “I will decide. I will question. I will claim. I will dissent.”

That is a much more demanding conception of nationalism than mere conformity. For nationalism should not mean that the citizen disappears into the nation. It should mean that the nation creates enough freedom for citizens to become fully themselves.

This is why Naipaul’s metaphor of the mutiny matters.

The word sounds destructive. “Mutiny” suggests insubordination, disorder, disobedience (as many see today’s protests). But Naipaul ultimately saw these upheavals as necessary to India’s transformation. He wrote that the mutinies were “part of the beginning of a new way for many millions” and “part of India’s growth, and part of its restoration”.

That is an extraordinary idea – restoration through rebellion.

The argument is not that every protest is right. Nor is every demand just, every movement democratic or every form of dissent constructive. A democracy has legitimate laws and institutions. Protests can become coercive or violent. But the existence of dissent is not evidence of national weakness. Sometimes dissent is the evidence that citizenship is working.

India’s present moment therefore poses a deceptively simple question: what kind of patriotism do we want? One that says the good citizen is the compliant citizen? Or one that believes India is strong enough to withstand disagreement?

The latter is closer to Naipaul’s India – the India of countless individuals breaking out of inherited boundaries and insisting upon a larger life.

The danger for any ruling establishment is that it may begin by celebrating the mutinies that brought it power, and end by fearing the mutinies that question its power. But citizens do not cease to be free merely because a new government has been elected.

Nor does patriotism require silence. Indeed, there are moments when the most patriotic sentence a citizen can utter is simply, “No.”

Perhaps Naipaul’s deepest insight was that the India capable of saying “no” is not necessarily an India in decline. It may be the India that is still being born.

A million mutinies are noisy. They are inconvenient. They are sometimes infuriating. But a nation in which nobody is allowed to mutiny is not necessarily peaceful. It may simply be silent. A silent India was not the Idea of India for Gandhi, Nehru, Ambedkar or even for right-leaning intellectuals such as Vajpayee or Naipaul.

Lt Gen Bhopinder Singh (Retd) is the former Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands & Puducherry.

Nine persons were killed between Friday and Saturday in Manipur’s Kamjong, Kangpokpi and Ukhrul districts, the Hindustan Times reported, quoting unidentified police officials.

At least 14 homes were burnt in Kamjong and the district authorities have imposed prohibitory orders within a 400-metre radius of Chassad police station.

The violence followed the death of a 42-year-old woman, who was killed in the Kuki-dominated Chassad village in Naga-majority Kamjong district, reported PTI. A mother of five, the woman was shot near her neck on Friday night during a gunfight between armed groups and security forces.

The gunfight had started after security forces arrested some village volunteers, reported Hindustan Times.

The term “village volunteers” has been used for armed civilians guarding villages since ethnic clashes broke out in the state between the Kuki and Meitei groups in May 2023.

The women’s death on Friday triggered an exchange of fire between Kuki and Naga armed groups, reported PTI. A 22-year-old man was killed in the clashes and at least 14 homes belonging to members of the Kuki and Naga communities were burnt.

Separately, suspected militants opened fire in the Ningchou village, a Tangkhul Naga settlement near the Myanmar border, in Kamjong, reported PTI.

Two persons, identified as 35-year-old Ngachanso Ningshen and 48-year-old Leishishan Leishadang, were shot dead, the news agency quoted unidentified officials as saying.

Four killed in Kangpokpi

Four persons were killed in Kangpokpi on Saturday, the police confirmed to Scroll.

At around 6 am, suspected Kuki militants allegedly opened fire at four Naga village volunteers between Makui and Tapok villages along the Imphal-Tamenglong road, reported Hindustan Times.

While one person, identified as 35-year-old Machungwangbou was killed, two others were injured.

In another attack on Makui at around 5 am, three Naga village guards were killed, according to the newspaper. They were identified as Machungammamg, Ajinpou Ringkangmai and Robart.

One killed in Ukhrul

In Ukhrul district, a 40-year-old man, Sandeep Rai, was shot dead near Chepu Yaolen by suspected militants, reported PTI. The man died inside the four-wheeler he was driving.

Tensions between the Kukis and the Nagas escalated in Manipur in February after an alleged assault involving members of the Tangkhul Naga and the Kuki-Zo communities in the Ukhrul district.

Since then, more than 40 persons have been killed.

This followed the ethnic clashes that broke out in Manipur in May 2023 between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities. More than 300 persons have been killed and more than 59,000 persons displaced since then in the conflict.

Edited by Sneha.

The Delhi Police on Saturday detained leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign, members of the Opposition parties and hundreds of protesters ahead of a demonstration by youth groups to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Protests were also held in Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru in solidarity with the demonstration in Delhi, which was called by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign and student groups affiliated to the Left parties. It was being supported by farmers’ organisations and the Aam Aadmi Party.

The police had denied permission for the protest and imposed several restrictions to deter protesters from gathering in the national capital, in what the organisers described as intimidation by the authorities.

By the end of the day, the police had detained nearly 7,000 protesters who had attempted to assemble at different locations in the city, PTI quoted unidentified officials as saying. Among them were former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, ex-West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

All India Students’ Association head Neha Bora, along with advocate Prashant Bhushan and activist Yogendra Yadav, were also detained. The police also detained Scroll’s Ayush Tiwari and Shoaib Daniyal from Delhi, and Divya Aslesha in Pune.

Here’s more on this and other updates:

CJP leaders, protesters detained

• Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke and its convenors Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das were detained from inside their flight as soon as they landed at Delhi’s Indra Gandhi International Airport on Saturday. n and YouTuber Dhruv Rathee were among those detained.
• Ratna Singh, the legal affairs head of the campaign, was kept “in a car surrounded by more than 25 policemen” without providing any grounds for detention, the CJP alleged.
• In a video posted on social media on Friday night, Dipke urged supporters to continue the protest peacefully even if the campaign’s leadership is detained. In a pre-recorded video posted online after being detained, Dipke said that the Cockroach Janta Party’s organisation in-charge Ajinkya Shinde “will continue this protest” at Jantar Mantar.
• The police also entered the Sikh shrine Gurudwara Bangla Sahib to detain protesters who had been taking refuge there, alleged Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra.
• Activist Sonam Wangchuk said that if those detained are not released by Sunday, he “will be compelled to consider” a hunger strike.

Politicians detained

• Former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and other Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders, including MA Baby, Brinda Karat and Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas, were among those detained. They were taken to the Chhatrasal Stadium, along with other detainees, the party said.

• Leaders of the Mamata Banerjee faction of the Trinamool Congress, including the former chief minister herself, Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien and Saket Gokhale, were also detained.

• Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was also detained, the Aam Aadmi Party said on social media.

• AAP leader Manish Sisodia and workers of the party’s Punjab unit were detained after they protested in front of the office of the chief electoral officer in Chandigarh, reported ANI.

Left student activists detained

• All India Students’ Association head Neha Bora, along with advocate Prashant Bhushan and activist Yogendra Yadav, was detained after they began a march to Dilli Haat to demand Kumar’s resignation.

AISA President Neha and others were stopped at the Safdarjung Airport flyover and were detained.

Several protestors tried to block the way to stop the police vehicle from leaving.

Credit: CPIML Liberation/ X pic.twitter.com/WrCd74Xafs

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) October 10, 2026

• After large-scale detentions in central Delhi, Bora had said that Dilli Haat “becomes Jantar Mantar today”. Dilli Haat is an open-air market, seven kms away from Jantar Mantar.

Neha Bora, along with Prashant Bhusan and Yogendra Yadav, begins their march demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation.

Credit: AISA. pic.twitter.com/C55oBNLyBr

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) October 10, 2026

• Several other protesters who had gathered near Dilli Haat were also detained by the police.

Despite barricades, undeterred by heavy police presence, hundreds had gathered at Delhi Haat in INA. However, after half an hour, Delhi Police began to detain several young protestors.@kri_tikka and @_Vaishnavi_R report pic.twitter.com/iPlOYe5tef

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) October 10, 2026

• Later in the day, several others gathered near the spot at Aurobindo Marg and shouted slogans. The police attempted to clear the crowd using force.

• About 100 members of the Students’ Federation of India were being detained at Maharaja Surajmal Stadium, the group said.

Hundreds raise slogans against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, demanding his resignation in South Delhi's Aurobindo Marg. But the police tried to break up the crowd using force.@raghavKakkar30 reports pic.twitter.com/FfLd2bJ68N

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) October 10, 2026

Detentions in Mumbai

• More than 400 persons who had assembled at Mumbai’s August Kranti Maidan in solidarity with the protest call in Delhi were also detained, ANI quoted unidentified Mumbai Police officials as saying.

• Among those detained was actor Imran Khan.

#WATCH | Mumbai: Actor Imran Khan detained from Mumbai's August Kranti Maidan, which was the proposed protest venue in support of CJP’s protest call. pic.twitter.com/iZtCAVGDuZ

— ANI (@ANI) October 10, 2026

Lawyers, activists and content creators detained

• Lawyers who were holding a march against voter roll revision were also detained near the Supreme Court gate, Live Law reported.
• After their detention, the Supreme Court Bar Association urged Chief Justice Surya Kant to intervene in the matter, Live Law reported.
• The association condemned “the reported use of excessive force against, and the detention of, senior and young advocates, particularly women advocates, who were peacefully protesting”.
• Activist Jean Drèze was also detained.
• Content creator Kavya Karnatac was detained, the Hindustan Times reported. Another content creator, Harsh Yadav, alleged that the police were knocking on the doors of journalists staying at Park Hotel in Delhi.
• YouTubers Dhruv Rathee was detained by the Delhi Police from Gurugram.
• Activist Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, said that he had been detained at the National College intersection in Mumbai’s Bandra. Tushar Gandhi had called for a protest in the city.

Every vehicle passing here is checked for its destination and only then allowed through.@_Vaishnavi_R and @kri_tikka report from the intersection of Lodhi Road and Safdarjung Tomb at around 12 pm. pic.twitter.com/rlgAGYAzEx

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) October 10, 2026

"Why are they so scared? They have detained us since last evening," says a Youth Congress protester.

"Even the Britishers had not behaved the way the BJP government is treating its own people."@_Vaishnavi_R & @kri_tikka report pic.twitter.com/Oc9Fw7cfP9

— Scroll.in (@scroll_in) October 10, 2026

Journalists detained

• Besides Scroll’s Tiwari Daniyal and Aslesha, several journalists, including those from Newslaundry and Navbharat Times, had been detained in Delhi.

I have been detained by Delhi Police pic.twitter.com/MMAr95WgUk

— shoaib daniyal (@ShoaibDaniyal) October 10, 2026

Delhi turns into a fortress

• Metro closure extended: Entry and exit at 45 metro stations will remain shut till 10 pm on Saturday, said the Delhi Metro Rail Authority. The restriction had earlier been announced till 6 pm. “The situation will be reviewed by the security agencies and necessary updates shall be shared accordingly,” said the metro authority.
• The stations include Janpath, Patel Chowk, Central Secretariat, Rajiv Chowk, Seva Teerth and Shivaji Stadium near Jantar Mantar, and Lok Kalyan Marg, near the prime minister’s residence. The interchange facility will be available, except at the New Delhi metro station.
• The authorities had initially announced the closure of 57 stations. The plan was revised following a Supreme Court directive on Friday barring a complete closure of metro and railway services.
• Gatherings prohibited: Since late Thursday night, the police have been making announcements in central Delhi warning that gatherings of four or more persons have been prohibited under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita.
• Internet curbs: Mobile internet services were suspended within a four-km radius of the Janpath-Kartavya Path crossing in central Delhi for 24 hours starting at 10 pm on Friday. The area covers the Jantar Mantar protest site, the Connaught Place commercial area and the part of the national capital where several government offices are located.
• The railways has cancelled at least 245 trains beginning and ending at stations in Delhi, The Indian Express reported. Two other trains have been rescheduled and nine have been short terminated and short originated.
• Security deployment: Besides the Delhi Police, about 26,000 Central Armed Police Forces personnel have been deployed in Delhi until Monday, including at least five all-women companies, the Hindustan Times reported.
• Barricades have been placed at key locations in central Delhi, around the Jantar Mantar protest site.
• The police set up check posts at several entry points to the national capital.
• On Thursday, the Cockroach Janta Party alleged that at least 10,000 persons, including students, farmers and members of Dalit organisations, had been detained across the country.

Follow Scroll’s coverage of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls here.

The trigger for this round of protests was a September 23 investigation by The Indian Express, which revealed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected 14 times in 10 months to decisions by the poll panel related to the special intensive revision, saying some had been taken without their knowledge. You can read more here about the report and why the exercise is controversial.

Also read:

• SIR explained: Why the voter role revision has become so controversial
• ‘Dragged out of train’: Pune students detained while on way to Delhi protest against Gyanesh Kumar

Opposition’s protests

The Opposition INDIA bloc also protested for three consecutive days in Delhi this week, before raising concerns with President Droupadi Murmu on Friday about the alleged irregularities in the electoral process.

Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, was detained three times during the protests on Tuesday and Wednesday. At least four first information reports have been filed against him in connection with the protests.

A contentious exercise

Since the exercise began in June 2025, the SIR has faced questions about the manner and pace of its implementation, amid concerns that it could deny genuine electors their right to vote and shape election outcomes, as Scroll has reported.

In May, the Supreme Court upheld the legality of the exercise, but said that it does not mean that the Election Commission can decide on whether the person is an Indian citizen.

Despite this, Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states have cited the SIR to deny ration cards to those who have been eliminated from the rolls. In some cases, the police have denied permission for their passports to be renewed.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

• Also read: Conflict of interest concerns follow CEC Gyanesh Kumar from Sambhal to the Supreme Court
• Roadblocks to democracy: What’s really at stake when the state restricts transport services?
• Watch: True Story: Why Gyanesh Kumar’s exit may not end the rigging of Indian elections

Opposition leaders on Saturday condemned the detention of hundreds of protesters, journalists and activists in Delhi during demonstrations demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, saying “this is worse than the Emergency”.

“We are living under an absolute dictatorship ruled by [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi,” Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal said, adding that the detention of protesters, including Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke from an aircraft, reflected the government’s “unprecedented level of fear”.

Kejriwal accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of protecting electoral fraud by “crushing democracy”.

He demanded that Kumar and Modi must step down.

This is worse than the Emergency.

It’s official.. we are living under an absolute dictatorship ruled by Modi. Arresting cockroaches straight off their flight shows an unprecedented level of fear.

PM Modi clearly knows he only won the election through vote chori and now he is…

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) October 10, 2026

The Delhi Police detained hundreds of protesters across the capital, including Dipke, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, several activists and journalists, including Scroll’s Ayush Tiwari and Shoaib Daniyal.

The protest was organised by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign and student groups affiliated with Left parties to demand Kumar’s resignation over concerns about the functioning of the Election Commission and its handling of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls. They were demanding a rollback of the voter roll revision.

Rahul Gandhi, the leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, said that those protesting against Kumar were “not going to back down” and the Congress party is “standing with you”.

“We are going to defend our Constitution,” the Congress leader said on social media. “We are going to protect the voice of the Indian people. And we are going to ensure that what was done to India over the last 10-15 years will never, ever be done again.”

I’ve been fighting Narendra Modi and the RSS for over a decade now. I understand them like you would understand your opponent - inside out, like the back of my hand.

The core characteristic of these people is cowardice.

Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Mohan Bhagwat, Gyanesh Kumar and… pic.twitter.com/pWgb7y8pbA

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) October 10, 2026

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that the large-scale detentions in Delhi and restrictions to and within the city were “proof that they [the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre] have cheated the elections with the collusion of the Election Commission”.

She alleged that the government was “terrified that accountability is being demanded”.

First they rough up 254 MPs and detain them completely illegally, infringing on their basic constitutional rights; they do the same to other protestors from Opposition parties.

Then they lay siege to the national capital, barricading it and sealing it on all sides, stopping…

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) October 10, 2026

Her party colleague KC Venugopal accused the Modi government of waging “war against its own people”, citing the restrictions on transport, metro services and mass detentions in the national capital.

“A completely non-violent protest, a Satyagraha against the illegitimate dictators, is being clamped down upon in the most brutal and oppressive fashion,” Venugopal said.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that Delhi had been “turned into a fortress” in response to peaceful protests by young people concerned about their voting rights.

He alleged that the chief election commissioner had “faithfully followed” the government’s directions and said Kumar’s resignation had become a “moral imperative”.

All trains shut, 57 metro stations shut, mass detentions, Delhi in lockdown, CRPF deployment.

The Modi-Shah regime has officially waged war against its own people.

A completely non-violent protest, a Satyagraha against the illegitimate dictators, is being clamped down upon in…

— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) October 10, 2026

Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said that the scenes in Delhi “bring back painful memories of the Emergency that I lived through”.

He demanded the immediate release of political leaders, students and young protesters detained across the country. “Dissent is not a crime, and democracy cannot survive by silencing those who rise to defend it,” he said.

The scenes unfolding in Delhi today, and the scale of repression being unleashed against peaceful protesters, bring back painful memories of the Emergency that I lived through.

All political leaders, students and young protesters detained in Delhi and across the country must be… pic.twitter.com/7Szguh5OmF

— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) October 10, 2026

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said that if the BJP government thinks it can “stop the protesters through the might of power, it will prove to be an even greater mistake on its part”.

“‘Jantar-Mantar’ is no longer just a place’s name; it has become a symbol of a new consciousness and awakening,” said the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister. “If the government stops the protesters, then Jantar-Mantar will spring up everywhere in the country.”

किसीके रोके नहीं रुकेगा
अब दिल्ली में देश जुटेगा!

हम देश की युवा ऊर्जा के साथ हैं। भाजपा सरकार अगर समझ रही है कि वो ताक़त के बल पर जनता को रोक लेगी तो ये उसकी और भी बड़ी भूल साबित होगी। ‘जंतर-मंतर’ अब एक जगह का नाम नहीं, एक नई चेतना और जागरण का प्रतीक बन गया है। अगर सरकार ने…

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) October 10, 2026

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti compared the restrictions in Delhi to the situation in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution in 2019.

Article 370 accorded special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

She recalled the restrictions on movement and internet access in Kashmir and accused the BJP of suppressing protests before claiming that no opposition existed.

“First crush the protest, then deny it ever happened,” she said. “This is how enforced silence is passed off as consent.”

Today’s Delhi is a chilling reminder of Kashmir after the unconstitutional abrogation of Article 370. People were locked in their homes, the internet was shut down, and an entire region was placed under siege. The BJP then brazenly claimed that nobody had protested.
Today, with…

— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) October 10, 2026

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) condemned “widespread repression” by the Delhi Police, saying its leaders were detained while demanding electoral reforms and Kumar’s resignation.

Among those detained were CPI(M) General Secretary MA Baby, former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Brinda Karat and Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas.

“It is obvious that the Narendra Modi government has been rattled by the widespread protests,” the party said. “It is equally obvious that these repressive measures will fail to deter the people out on the streets.”

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra condemned Dipke’s detention aboard an aircraft, describing it as “bullying” and compared the situation to the Emergency.

TMC MP Derek O’Brien also criticised the crackdown, writing: “Cowards are the biggest bullies.”

Chors. Cowards. Bullies. Entered aircraft to detain @Cockroachisback . This is our Emergency, India. @abhijeet_dipke @AshutoshRanka @SauravDassss pic.twitter.com/s3IFNIdoHt

— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) October 10, 2026

The protest on Saturday comes after several days of the Opposition INDIA bloc holding their own demonstrations in the national capital.

The trigger for this round of protests was a September 23 investigation by The Indian Express, which revealed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected 14 times in 10 months to decisions by the poll panel related to the special intensive revision, saying some had been taken without their knowledge.

Written by Sara Varghese. Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

Follow updates of the protest at Jantar Mantar here.

Also read: Scroll’s Ayush Tiwari, Shoaib Daniyal detained while covering protest against CEC

Former Chief Ministers Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Pinarayi Vijayan and Manik Sarkar were detained on Saturday during a protest to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Kejriwal, the chief of the Aam Aadmi Party, was detained outside his home while he attempted to march to the Jantar Mantar protest site, reported PTI.

He later shared a video online where he, along with Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and several other members of the Aam Aadmi Party, could be seen inside a police bus.

“The youth of the country has awakened,” said Kejriwal. “Prime Minister Modi’s dictatorship will not prevail. Vote thief Gyanesh Kumar will have to go.”

देश का युवा जाग चुका है, प्रधानमंत्री मोदी की तानाशाही नहीं चलेगी। वोट चोर ज्ञानेश कुमार को जाना पड़ेगा!

-@ArvindKejriwal, राष्ट्रीय संयोजक, AAP pic.twitter.com/HgT2El6ICW

— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) October 10, 2026

Leaders of the Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress faction, including Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien and former legislator Saket Gokhale, were detained outside her home in Delhi.

“Death to democracy in India,” said Gokhale on social media. He later announced that Banerjee will sit on a protest outside a police station in Dwarka where the party leaders were taken.

Mamata Didi announces dharna at Dwarka North Sector 17 police station in Delhi.

The fight will go on! pic.twitter.com/Sgdh05jhWW

— Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) October 10, 2026

Vijayan and other leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), including MA Baby, Brinda Karat and Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas, were detained earlier in the day and taken to the Chhatrasal Stadium.

CPI(M) leader Sarkar, the former chief minister of Tripura, was detained at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Bawana, the party said.

CPI(M) General Secretary M.A Baby and senior leaders were detained by the Delhi police today ahead of the march to Jantar Mantar where India will demand the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar.

Comrades Brinda Karat, M.V Govindan, P.K. Sreemathy, and P. Rajeev were among the leaders… pic.twitter.com/W1BOqRmh60

— CPI (M) (@cpimspeak) October 10, 2026

The Opposition leaders are among the nearly 5,000 protesters who have been detained across the national capital on Saturday, reported The Hindu.

The protest at Jantar Mantar had been called by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign and student groups affiliated to the Left parties.

In recent weeks, protests have been held in several parts of the country calling for Kumar to resign over concerns about the functioning of the Election Commission and its handling of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

The demonstrations on Saturday were expected to begin at 10 am, according to the organisers. However, Cockroach Janta Party leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained from inside an aircraft by the police shortly after they arrived in Delhi.

The police have denied permission for the protest.

Ahead of the demonstration on Saturday, the police imposed several restrictions to deter protesters from gathering in the national capital, in what the organisers described as intimidation by the authorities. The measures include detaining persons, cancelling trains, closing 45 metro stations and suspending mobile internet in central Delhi.

Thousands of protesters were detained by the police on Saturday morning, including from near Jantar Mantar and Connaught Place ahead of the demonstration. YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and Cockroach Janta Party’s legal affairs head Ratna Singh were among those detained.

Written by Abeer Khan. Edited by Sneha.

Also read:

• Dragged out of train’: Pune students detained while on way to Delhi protest against Gyanesh Kumar
• Scroll’s Ayush Tiwari, Shoaib Daniyal detained in Delhi, Divya Aslesha in Pune during CEC protests
• ‘This is worse than Emergency’: Opposition on protesters, journalists being detained during protest

It was around 3.30 pm. I was covering the protest led by Left activists in Pune’s Shaniwar Wada area. There were more than 50 protesters, most of them young women.

I had been there for just about 20 minutes. I was covering the police as they were hauling all the protesters away into buses.

The police tried to drag me in twice. I screamed and screamed that I am a reporter. I showed them my press card. Someone intervened so the police let me go the second time.

But then, because I continued taking photos there, they said: “Just get inside. You are not leaving this area. We are going to take you with us.”

Now my colleague Divya Aslesha has been detained covering the protests in Pune. @PuneCityPolice please release her immediately. @IndEditorsGuild @DigipubIndia pic.twitter.com/fp6xUDWoHl

— naresh fernandes (@tajmahalfoxtrot) October 10, 2026

I was in a police bus for about half an hour. The police picked me up near Lal Mahal, outside Shaniwar Wada. All the protesters were detained. Many of them were young women. We did not know where we were being taken.

There were a large number of police officers there. Must have been more than a hundred. They dragged people away. They did not tell anybody the cause of detention.

We were taken to Lashkar police station, which is about 4 km away. There, a senior police officer told me that they had detained me “by mistake”. It was not a mistake.

Then, the police let me go. They even offered to drop me off at Shaniwar Wada again. The protesters are still inside the police station.

I was waiting outside my home in South Delhi for a taxi around 1 pm. I was supposed to go to Jantar Mantar, which was more than 20 km away from there. The police had blocked the road and set up a checkpost right outside my house. There was a policeman standing there so I went up to him and started chatting with him casually about what was happening.

I asked him, “Why have you set up a check post here today?” He became very suspicious. He searched my bag and clicked a phot of my Aadhaar card. He even noted down my address. Eventually, he said that he is going to detain me.

He called another policeman and together the two of them detained me. They called for a bus and took me inside it.

I have been detained by Delhi Police pic.twitter.com/MMAr95WgUk

— shoaib daniyal (@ShoaibDaniyal) October 10, 2026

They said that they would take me to a nearby police station, but they never did. They stopped the bus in the middle of the road at a short distance from my home. They kept me there for more than an hour.

They tried to force me to delete the videos on my phone I had shot about the detention. When I declined to do so, they called a couple of more policemen, who also tried to coerce me to delete the videos.

I refused.

The name of the police officer who detained me was Bhagwan Sahay.

I was eventually released around 2.30 pm.

The reason that they eventually gave for the detention was that this was a “bad time”. “You have to understand that there is disorder in the city today,” they told me.

It was about 11.10 am. I was outside Harkishan Singh Surjeet Bhawan, behind Rouse Avenue Court in Central Delhi.

Left groups affiliated to the Communist Party of India (Marxist), such as the Students’ Federation of India, and some students from Ashoka University had marched in a procession from the Bharatiya Janata Party’s office at Deendayal Upadhyay Marg. There were about 60 people in all. Most of them were young, but there were also a few older people among them.

They were heading to Harkishan Singh Surjeet Bhawan. The police were dragging them away and detaining them. Many of them tried to run inside the Bhawan. Some protesters were behind the gates of the Bhawan and the police were outside. I was filming this scene.

Then, some of the police officers tried to detain me. I was wearing my press card. I showed it to them. “Everybody claims to be a journalist these days, you are no different,” they said. I recorded a video of them. Their badges were not clearly visible.

There were no violent clashes between the police and the protesters. The police were just detaining whoever they could get hold of and the protesters were trying to get away.

I was recording police trying to detain protesters at HKS Surjeet Bhawan near ITO when I was detained. @scroll_in pic.twitter.com/zXvSOHh7ug

— Ayush Tiwari (@sighyush) October 10, 2026

There were two other reporters there with me. After I was detained and put inside a bus, I gave a byte to one of them as well. The other reporters were not detained.

I was on that bus for an hour and a half. The police did not misbehave with me. They did not take away my phone.

The Delhi Police is detaining journalists. @scroll_in pic.twitter.com/kMtrUWJXVQ

— Ayush Tiwari (@sighyush) October 10, 2026

The bus was hardly moving. The traffic was quite bad. The engine of the bus overheated at one point and started bellowing fumes, so the police let everyone out. This was right outside Paharganj police station.

I just walked off from there. The police tried to take me in again, but I said: “You drag me in or else I am not coming.” Then, they let me go. But the protesters were still there when I left. The police were taking them inside the police station one by one.

Update: I'm not in detention anymore. The police bus I was in nearly caught fire. @scroll_in https://t.co/MuW8n6eHUO pic.twitter.com/19BPnSG7np

— Ayush Tiwari (@sighyush) October 10, 2026

Trillionaire Elon Musk on Friday asked whether “Prime Minister Ambani” would consider allowing Starlink to compete in India, amid an online debate about his satellite internet network not having received clearance to operate in the country.

“Please accept my humble apologies for not realising that you are the real boss of India,” Musk said on social media platform X, which he owns.

He accused Ambani of wanting to maintain a “monopolistic exploitation” of Indian consumers.

“There are many areas of India, as there are in all countries, with no internet access, which denies children the opportunity for education and for small businesses the opportunity to sell their goods to a global market,” Musk wrote. “Starlink would change their lives for the better.”

Musk did not specify which member of the Ambani family he was referring to. Scroll has requested comment from Reliance Industries Limited. This report will be updated if we receive a comment.

This is the second time in two days that Musk mentioned Ambani.

On Thursday, the trillionaire asked if “Ambani is the real boss” of India.

“Starlink is licensed in over 165 countries and has spent five years complying with every single law and requirement of the government of India, so why still no license?” he had asked.

Starlink provides internet access through a constellation of satellites placed in low-earth orbit by Musk’s spacecraft manufacturing company SpaceX.

If launched in India, Starlink will compete in the country’s satellite internet market with Jio Space Technology, a joint venture part of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, and Eutelsat OneWeb, backed by Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel Group.

The businessman’s remark on Thursday had come a day after he accused “certain oligarchs” in India of blocking the launch of Starlink, saying that they are trying to protect their “monopolistic chokehold” over the industry.

The Union government had on Thursday defended India’s regulatory framework for satellite communication services, saying it was “fair and non-discriminatory”. The Ministry of Communications did not specifically mention Musk or Starlink in its statement but referred to a widely shared post on social media on Thursday.

The ministry said that New Delhi had a common authorisation framework for all telecommunication services, including satellite communications and that licensees were required to comply with “security conditions”.

Starlink has obtained authorisation for a global mobile personal communications by satellite from the Department of Telecommunications, but is yet to receive the security clearances required to begin operations, The Hindu reported.

The security rules, some of which were amended in May, require Musk-owned SpaceX to disable Starlink receivers purchased outside India and terminals sold within the country if they are taken abroad, the newspaper reported.

Written by Abeer Khan. Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

Also read: Starlink: India’s new satellite internet rules are a fresh hurdle – what five experts think

For decades, blocking transport has been among the most recognisable tactics of protest politics in India.

Farmers frequently block highways, unions organise chakka jams, and rail roko agitations have a history stretching back to the freedom movement. The logic is straightforward: disrupting everyday circulation makes a political claim harder to ignore. But the inconvenience caused to ordinary travellers is precisely why such tactics have also attracted criticism.

The state, of course, has also restricted movement during protests for a long time. Roads have been barricaded, protest sites cordoned off, and access to cities curtailed in the name of public order. During the 2020-’21 farmers’ protests, Delhi’s borders were fortified by digging ditches, erecting concrete barriers, rolling out razor wire and even installing iron nails into roads.

The farmers were allowed to protest at the Tikri, Singhu, and Ghazipur borders, but their movement toward the institutions in the centre of the capital was constrained.

October 10 therefore is not the first time the state has deployed mobility restrictions. What is striking, though, is their sheer scale. Restrictions have been applied simultaneously across the roads, long-distance rail, local buses and the Delhi Metro as protestors plan to gather in the capital to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar for the manner in which the special intensive revision of the electoral rolls has been conducted. The exercise has resulted in approximately 130 million names being deleted from the draft rolls.

In addition to restrictions on services in Delhi, the Union Home Secretary has reportedly directed police chiefs across states to prevent “unauthorised” entry into the capital. On Thursday, students travelling from Pune were allegedly dragged out from a Delhi-bound train and detained. A strategy once concentrated at Delhi’s borders has now begun hundreds of kilometres away.

There is a striking contradiction here. India is investing enormously in infrastructure intended to overcome distance. Yet during political conflict, the same infrastructure can be used to recreate distance: between citizens and the capital, protesters and public institutions, political claims and the places where they might be heard.

Unprecedented scale

The Metro restrictions made the scale of the restrictions visible within Delhi. The authorities initially proposed to stop services to 57 stations. Following the Supreme Court’s intervention, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation reduced that number. Now, 45 stations will be closed for much of Saturday. The court’s intervention matters here less as a constitutional subplot than as an indication of how extraordinary the original measures were, and how little the directive could do to address it.

Protesters are not the only people affected by these restrictions. In Gurgaon, commuters were left stranded by Metro restrictions as cab fares surged. Workers, students, patients and other travellers are all bearing costs imposed in anticipation of a political gathering in central Delhi.

This produces an important reversal. A rail roko disrupts mobility so that a political demand becomes visible. When the state cancels trains, restricts Metro access or prevents people from travelling toward a demonstration, it can disrupt mobility for almost the opposite reason: to keep a political demand from gaining collective presence.

The two are not equivalent. Governments have a legitimate responsibility to maintain public safety, and large gatherings may require crowd management and temporary transport restrictions. Yet the state is also uniquely powerful because it controls the infrastructure through which people move. How that power is exercised, and on what scale, therefore deserves particular scrutiny.

Over dozens of students onboard Goa Express and on their way to participate in protests in Delhi were detained by the local police in Itarsi, Madhya Pradesh. pic.twitter.com/cdw8ooVUGr

— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) October 9, 2026

Unequal costs

Scrutinising this power requires looking beyond the stated purpose of maintaining public order to the wider consequences of restricting movement. It means asking not only why mobility is curtailed, but how extensively, at whose expense, and with what consequences for access to political space.

The first question is one of proportionality. Public order may justify restricting movement in the immediate vicinity of a large gathering, but the justification becomes harder to sustain as restrictions expand in geographical reach, duration and number of people affected.

The relevant measure is not simply whether authorities can identify a security concern, but whether the response bears a reasonable relationship to that concern. The scale of disruption on October 10 makes that distinction particularly important.

The second question is who bears its costs. Mobility restrictions are rarely experienced equally. A traveller who can replace a cancelled train with a flight, a closed Metro station with a surge-priced cab, or a blocked road with a private car has options unavailable to those dependent on affordable public transport.

For many passengers, a cancelled train is not simply an inconvenience but the loss of the journey altogether. Measures introduced for public order can therefore shift policing costs onto those with the least capacity to avoid them. This is a question of mobility justice, not merely traffic management.

The third question is what kind of access is being restricted. Delhi is not simply another destination. It is the home of Parliament, the Supreme Court, the Election Commission and Union ministries whose authority extends across India. For citizens living elsewhere, travelling to the capital is one way to overcome the physical distance from national power. Restrictions that make Delhi, or particular parts of it, inaccessible during moments of dissent can therefore turn geographical distance into political marginality.

These considerations change what is at stake in a transport restriction. The question is no longer only whether people can complete their journeys, but whether control over movement also distributes access to political space. That requires us to see transport not merely as a service that enables everyday circulation, but as part of the infrastructure through which democratic life is made possible.

Service Update - Revised

Due to security reasons, the entry and exit at the following metro stations will remain closed from 09:00 PM on 9th October, 2026 till 06:00 PM on 10th October, 2026. Further the situation will be reviewed by the security agencies and necessary updates…

— Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (@OfficialDMRC) October 9, 2026

Infrastructure of democracy

Transport is usually discussed through the language of efficiency and development: faster trains, bigger highways, expanding Metro systems and better connectivity are all portrayed as signs of growth. But infrastructure does more than connect workers to jobs and consumers to markets. It connects citizens to one another and also to political institutions. It is part of the material infrastructure through which democracy happens.

October 10 makes this unusually visible. A citizen can remain formally free to criticise the government while finding the train that would take her to the capital has been cancelled, her journey interrupted before reaching Delhi, the road into the city barricaded or the Metro station near a protest site inaccessible. The right to dissent remains intact on paper while the material conditions for exercising it become narrower.

There are alternatives to shutting down mobility. Governments routinely manage enormous religious gatherings, elections, sporting events and political rallies without bringing transport networks to a standstill. Experienced transport planners and administrators are well placed to prescribe what those alternatives should have been on October 10.

My concern is different: to recognise what is at stake when restricting movement itself becomes an instrument for governing dissent.

For years, a typical image of disruptive Indian protest has been the citizen sitting on a railway track or blocking a highway, stopping movement so that the state is forced to listen. October 10 offers the inverse: the state stopped movement so citizens could not gather where they wanted to be heard.

The distance between those two images is where the politics of mobility now lies.

#Emergency pic.twitter.com/mJLIe0G0Ku

— Ashish Joshi (@bismil_prasad) October 10, 2026

Gaurav Mittal is a researcher at the Transport Studies Unit, University of Oxford.

Cockroach Janta Party leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained from inside an aircraft by the police shortly after they arrived in Delhi on Saturday ahead of a protest by youth groups to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

They had arrived on a flight from Mumbai at about 10.20 am. A video posted by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign online showed police personnel detaining them before they had deboarded the aircraft.

🚨 ABHIJEET DIPKE, SAURAV DAS AND ASHUTOSH RANKA DETAINED FROM INSIDE THEIR FLIGHT 🚨

Shame on you @narendramodi @AmitShah pic.twitter.com/hXl6bzh53i

— Cockroach Janta Party - CJP (@Cockroachisback) October 10, 2026

The campaign alleged that the police had “orchestrated this pre-planned obstruction with the aim of thwarting today's peaceful protest” before the leaders could reach the protest site.

“The CJP condemns this move, as it constitutes a blatant violation of the freedom of movement, and demands the immediate and unconditional release of Dipke, Das and Ranka,” it said in a statement.

The protest at Jantar Mantar has been organised by the Cockroach Janta Party and student groups affiliated to the Left parties.

In recent weeks, protests have been held in several parts of the country calling for Kumar to resign over concerns about the functioning of the Election Commission and its handling of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

The demonstrations on Saturday were expected to begin at 10 am, according to the organisers.

The police have denied permission for the protest.

Ahead of the demonstration on Saturday, the police imposed several restrictions to deter protesters from gathering in the national capital, in what the organisers described as intimidation by the authorities. The measures include detaining persons, cancelling trains, closing 45 metro stations and suspending mobile internet in central Delhi.

Hundreds of protesters were detained by the police on Saturday morning, including from near Jantar Mantar and Connaught Place ahead of the demonstration. YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and Cockroach Janta Party’s legal affairs head Ratna Singh were among those detained.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

Follow updates of the protest at Jantar Mantar here.

Also read: Roadblocks to democracy: What’s really at stake when the state restricts transport services?

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday asked all states and Union Territories to help the Delhi Police by taking preventive measures to stop protesters from travelling towards the national capital, The Hindu reported.

In its letter to chief secretaries and state police chiefs, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan flagged the “grave law and order and public order implications” of the planned protest led by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign on Saturday, the newspaper reported.

The protesters are demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The police have imposed several restrictions to stop protesters from gathering in the national capital, in what the organisers described as intimidation by the authorities. The measures include detaining persons, cancelling trains, closing 45 metro stations and suspending mobile internet in central Delhi.

The protest comes after several days of the Opposition INDIA bloc holding their own demonstrations in the national capital. Demonstrations have also been held in other parts of the country calling for Kumar to resign over concerns about the functioning of the Election Commission and its handling of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

Follow updates of the protest at Jantar Mantar here.

In its letter to the states, the Union government said that the Delhi Police had rejected the organiser’s request to hold the demonstration at Jantar Mantar, ANI reported.

The authorities also cited what they described as a “documented history of non-compliance with lawful directions” by the political campaign and organisations supporting it during an earlier protest. This was an apparent reference to the agitation in July against alleged irregularities in the conduct of examinations.

The Union home ministry claimed that during the earlier protest, which involved participants travelling from different states, public order had been disrupted and public property was damaged, The Hindu reported.

The ministry was quoted as having added that intelligence inputs suggest that the Cockroach Janta Party and its supporters plan to defy the prohibitory orders and attempt to enter the national capital from several states and Union Territories.

The Union government directed the states to “immediately operationalise preventive measures” in coordination with the Delhi Police to prevent a breach of public tranquillity and protect critical infrastructure, The Hindu reported.

The Union government said that there was a need for real-time intelligence sharing between agencies at the state level, the transit authorities and the Delhi Police to ensure coordinated action.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

Also read:

• ‘Dragged out of train’: Pune students detained while on way to Delhi protest against Gyanesh Kumar
• At least 10,000 detained across India ahead of October 10 Delhi protest against Gyanesh Kumar: CJP
• Roadblocks to democracy: What’s really at stake when the state restricts transport services?

YouTuber Dhruv Rathee was detained by the Delhi Police from Gurugram on Saturday ahead of a protest by youth groups to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, India Today reported.

Rathee had arrived in the national capital on Friday to participate in the protest.

Responding to Rathee’s detention, the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign said that “the dictator is terrified of young people who question its wrongdoings and refuse to stay silent!”

The protest at Jantar Mantar has been organised by the Cockroach Janta Party and student groups affiliated to the Left parties.

In recent weeks, protests have been held in several parts of the country calling for Kumar to resign over concerns about the functioning of the Election Commission and its handling of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

The demonstrations on Saturday were expected to begin at 10 am, according to the organisers.

The police have denied permission for the protest.

Ahead of the demonstration on Saturday, the police imposed several restrictions to deter protesters from gathering in the national capital, in what the organisers described as intimidation by the authorities. The measures include detaining persons, cancelling trains, closing 45 metro stations and suspending mobile internet in central Delhi.

Hundreds of protesters were detained by the police on Saturday morning, including from near Jantar Mantar and Connaught Place ahead of the demonstration.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

Follow updates of the protest at Jantar Mantar here.

Also read: Roadblocks to democracy: What’s really at stake when the state restricts transport services?

The Delhi Police has imposed restrictions, including orders prohibiting gatherings, curbs on travel to and within the city, and suspension of mobile internet, ahead of the protest at Jantar Mantar on Saturday to demand Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation. The police have also warned persons against joining the demonstration.

Since late Thursday night, the police have been making public announcements near Parliament warning that Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita was in force. The section prohibits gatherings of four or more persons, processions and road blockades.

The police also warned of legal action against violators.

Delhi Police announcement near Parliament. pic.twitter.com/9yTtVysr25

— Ayush Tiwari (@sighyush) October 8, 2026

The police personnel are also visiting colleges, mosques, resident welfare associations and other public places to discourage people from joining the protest.

Trains scheduled to arrive in Delhi between 4 am and 2 pm on Saturday have been cancelled, while the police have sought the closure of 57 metro stations.

The protest – called by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign, Left groups, student organisations and activists – is being held to demand Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the conduct of the special intensive revision of voter rolls and to scrap the exercise.

Leaders of the Opposition INDIA bloc, student unions and other groups have been holding protests in Delhi since October 2.

Here’s more on this and other updates:

Opposition meets the president

• Opposition leaders met President Droupadi Murmu on Friday to raise their concerns about the alleged irregularities in the electoral processes.
• After the meeting, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that Murmu “in no way denied, questioned or argued what we said”. The president asked the Opposition to submit evidence in the matter, Gandhi said, adding that it will be provided.
• “I actually expected the president of India to deny that vote chori is taking place,” he said. “I expected the president to say that India has a free and fair election system. I was shocked and stunned that the president of India accepted what we said.”

Transport and internet restrictions

• Internet curbs: Mobile internet services will be suspended in central Delhi, ANI quoted the police’s instructions to telecom companies as saying. The services will be suspended within a four-km radius of the Janpath-Kartavya Path crossing for 24 hours starting at 10 pm on Friday.
• The area would cover the Jantar Mantar protest site, the Connaught Place commercial area and the part of the national capital where several government offices are located.
• Trains to major Delhi stations cancelled: All mail and express trains originating after 2 pm on Friday that were scheduled to arrive at New Delhi or Hazrat Nizamuddin stations between 4 am and 2 pm on Saturday have been cancelled at source. The railways cited anticipated severe road congestion around the stations. Read more here.
• 57 metro stations to be shut: The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said that entry and exit gates at 57 stations will be shut from 9 pm on Friday until Saturday. The restrictions will remain in place “till further notice”, said the authority. Interchange facilities will remain available at all metro stations, except at New Delhi.
• The announcement was made after the Delhi Police asked the metro authority to consider closing entry and exit gates at the stations. The police had also proposed reducing train frequency at the identified stations.
• Court blocks complete closure: However, in an urgent hearing on Friday afternoon, the Supreme Court barred the authorities from imposing a complete closure of metro and rail services. It said that the services must function “in a suitably regulated manner so that inconvenience to the public at large is minimised”. The order came on petitions challenging the restrictions.
• The court also directed the authorities to publicise its decision about the curbs to avoid inconvenience to commuters.
• The bench also took note of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s assurance that the authorities will be urged to reconsider the closure and the movement of metro trains and other railway services, keeping in mind the principle of proportionality.
• Restrictions on taxis: The police are coordinating with application-based cab aggregators such as Uber and Ola to regulate movement towards Lutyens’ Delhi, The Indian Express reported. 

‘No one can stop’ the youth, says BJP ally

• Commenting on the restrictions, Union minister Chirag Paswan told ANI that “no one can stop” the youth.
• “To those attempting to spread such misconceptions, I ask: how many trains can anyone really stop?” the Lok Janshakti Party chief was quoted as having asked. “How much connectivity can be blocked? How many roads can be jammed? These are India’s youth; they have the capacity to show the world the way – just as previous generations have done – and so, nothing can hold them back.”

Follow Scroll’s coverage of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls here.

Security deployment

• About 26,000 Central Armed Police Forces personnel will be deployed in Delhi until Monday, including at least five all-women companies, the Hindustan Times reported. 
• The police has set up 37 blocking points across the New Delhi district and directed district units to prevent protesters from reaching the demonstration site, The Indian Express reported. 
• Dedicated detention facilities are being prepared across Delhi’s 15 police districts. Stadiums and other designated facilities, including Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Bawana and Chhatrasal Stadium, are among the locations being readied, the newspaper reported.

Hotels asked not to accept new bookings

• The police have checked hotels and guest houses in Delhi and asked accommodation providers in areas including Paharganj not to accept fresh bookings from people suspected of arriving for the protest, Hindustan Times reported. 
• The police have asked media organisations to ensure that journalists covering the protest carry and prominently display valid press identification cards at barricades and sensitive locations, PTI reported. 
• The Delhi government has ordered liquor vends to remain closed on Friday and Saturday as a preventive measure to maintain public order.

Police denies permission over ‘past violations’

• Delhi Police has denied permission for the October 10 demonstration at Jantar Mantar, citing prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, ANI reported.  
• Permission was denied because the Cockroach Janta Party allegedly failed to comply with conditions agreed to during the youth protests in July, PTI quoted the police as saying. 
• New Delhi Joint Commissioner of Police Nupur Prasad also said the request was submitted too close to the event, claiming that permission should ordinarily be sought at least 10 days in advance.
• Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke said that the demonstration will proceed despite the restrictions.
• Detentions alleged across states: CJP and student organisations have alleged that thousands of activists have been detained or prevented from travelling to Delhi ahead of the demonstration. Read more.
• On Friday, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra said that the Madhya Pradesh High Court had “confirmed that any police action detaining protesters coming to Delhi is illegal”. “We are a free country,” said Moitra. “Our youth are free to travel anywhere.”

Courts refuses urgent hearing on protest pleas

• The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to urgently hear the Indian Youth Congress’s plea challenging the police’s refusal to permit a protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Jantar Mantar, Bar and Bench reported. “What is the urgency?” the court asked and listed the matter for Monday.
• The Supreme Court also rejected a plea seeking directions to give the Delhi Police a free hand to deal with protesters, The Times of India reported.
• “These are young students and protesters before us,” the newspaper quoted Chief Justice Surya Kant as saying. “We have to see their parents, we have to see they have a long life. [They should not be] entangled with court hearings etc.”

Demands for Kumar’s resignation

The protesters have raised concerns after The Indian Express’ September 23 investigation showed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected 14 times in 10 months to decisions by the poll panel related to the special intensive revision, saying some had been taken without their knowledge.

Since the exercise began in June 2025, the SIR has faced questions about the manner and pace of its implementation, amid concerns that it could deny genuine electors their right to vote and shape election outcomes, as Scroll has reported.

The Opposition has also demanded the removal of Kumar.

Kumar has not yet commented on The Indian Express’ investigation. However, after the report was published, the Election Commission had said that “operational queries or inputs raised by commission members during draft stages are part of standard administrative practice” to safeguard voter rights.

Written by Sara Varghese. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

Also read:

• At least 10,000 detained across India ahead of October 10 Delhi protest against Gyanesh Kumar: CJP
• Conflict of interest concerns follow CEC Gyanesh Kumar from Sambhal to the Supreme Court
• Is 2026 the beginning of the end of the Modi era?

As 23-year-old Sakshi Ejgar prepared hard in Pune for the prestigious Maharashtra Public Service Commission exams, she felt growing anger as she studied “good governance”, one of her main subjects. “We learn about transparency, objectivity, social justice and aspire to become officers who work by these values,” said Ejgar. “But we are not even being allowed to reach that far.”

Since October 2, following a question paper leak in June and examination irregularities. thousands of state civil service aspirants have been joining a sit-in agitation near Pune’s SM Joshi bridge demanding justice. So far, 11 suspects have been arrested for leaking the paper for the drug inspector recruitment exam held in March.

Pune is a hub for thousands of aspirants like Ejgar, many of whom hail from farmer families in drought-prone parts of Maharashtra. They spend years studying for competitive exams in the hopes of landing a coveted government job. These students stay in small, rented accommodations and pay for access to study halls and libraries.

“We have to spend Rs 10,000-Rs 15,000 a month on living expenses,” said Ejgar. “Every time an exam is postponed, we feel awful asking our parents for more financial support.” Ejgar unsuccessfully attempted the exam in 2025 and managed to clear the preliminary stage in 2026. But the mains exam she was to appear for on October 3 was postponed.

Protestors at SM Joshi bridge told Scroll that they were angry and felt betrayed by what many considered to beone of the few remaining trustworthy government recruitment exams in a time of question paper leaks and irregularities.

“We have been seeing the MPSC as one of the most transparent constitutional bodies but there is a complete collapse of the system,” said Sayali Kengale, 28, who was at the protest with Ejgar.

Kengale said the state civil services is seen as a competitive exam for ordinary families. “If you can’t handle the pressure, don’t come here,” she said. “If one has so much money to spend [on buying a question paper], then start a business, go do something else. By appearing for a paper that was leaked, where is your self-respect?”

Some aspirants expressed regret at having put he best and most productive years of their youth on hold in an attempt to land a coveted government job. For women aspirants, the stakes were even higher. Seeking even another year to study was becoming impossible with mounting pressure by their families to get married.

Kengale said the protest, which had entered its eighth day on Friday, was a crucial strategy at this juncture to restore faith before the next round of exams due in January for recruitment to about 6,500 government posts.

On Wednesday, the state advocate general told the Bombay High Court that the Maharashtra government had accepted three of the protestors’ four demands, reported The Indian Express. These include a mega recruitment drive, capping the exam fee at Rs 100 fee and holding exams offline.

Shivraj More, the president of the Maharashtra Youth Congress, who has been leading the protests, said oral submissions in court had little meaning and the protest would continue. “Where are the notifications and clarifications?” he asked Scroll. “No government delegation has met us so far either.”

The other key demand is the resignation of the chairman of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission, Vivek Bhimanwar. The advocate general told the court that the state government had sent a recommendation to the Maharashtra governor to take an “appropriate decision” about Bhimanwar. As a bureaucrat, Bhimanwar’s removal will have to be effected as per the process laid out by Article 317 of the Constitution.

Shivraj More said Bhimanwar should instead take responsibility for the situation and resign.

At the protest site on Friday evening, many participants stood firm on this demand, mirroring the rage behind the demand for Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation in July after the paper for the National Elibibility-cum-Entrance Test for medical studies was leaked.

“The MPSC chairman must resign, of course, but this whole body should be dissolved,” said Sayali Kengale. “It is not one person who is involved but the whole system that is rotten, from the bottom to class I officers.”

Added Ejgar: “For now, our studies are the second priority. First, we need the resignation [of the MPSC chairman]. It is about accountability.”

Earlier in the afternoon, Rohit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party’s Sharad Pawar faction, who has been central to organising the agitation, said a first information report had been filed against 15 protesters. The Pune Police say the protest is illegal since permission for it was cancelled.

Pawar said the FIRs are a badge of honour. “We are not going anywhere,” he said. Referring to the security clampdown in Delhi ahead of protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Saturday, Pawar said those who unable to go to the national capital were free to join the protest in Pune. “We will fight for the Constitution here,” he said.

‘Trust broken’

For Ruchika Giri, 26, the police investigation into the question paper had revealed just how deep the rot was. Otherwise, there was exceptional trust in the Maharashtra Public Service Commission, she said – “beyond infinity”.

It might have been acceptable had the leak occurred at one examination centre, said Giri. But for it to have happened in the parking lot of the commission’s headquarters is shocking, she said.

The police have found that an MPSC assistant section officer copied questions from a set under his care and handed the printout to another official in the parking lot of the commission’s office, according to The Indian Express.

“When we study for years and miss the cut-off by one or two marks, we think it was our failing,” said Giri. “But now it feels like everything was fixed.”

Swapnil Kalvankar, 28, said there had been a perception that the Maharashtra Public Service Commission is a good, responsible institution where scams do not take place. “If people who have gotten [MPSC] jobs by buying the paper, they will do even more corruption later,” he said.

Kalvankar, who has been spending a couple of hours at the protest site almost every day since October 2, said that as an engineering student, he never imagined himself participating in an agitation. He spent four years preparing for the Union Public Service Commission exam for a central government job but with no success. So for the past two years, he had been preparing for the state civil services exams.

Bhimanwar’s resignation might not lead to change, Kalvankar said, “but if we don’t raise our voices now, it will send a signal that even bigger scams will not draw outrage”.

Protesting is our right, said Kalvankar. By staying silent, we will end up in an autocracy. “There is no meaning to democracy if all one does is show up to vote once every five years,” he said.

Life on hold for nothing

Despite their anger, the aspirants felt that they were left with few options.

Life feels like it is at a standstill, said Kalvankar. “Going into the private sector is difficult now because of such a long gap since my degree. There is global uncertainty as well,” he said, referring to the economic and job concerns in software engineering due to artificial intelligence. “We cannot find jobs in the private sector and not even government jobs now.”

This is not the fault of students, he said. “We have general knowledge, we have technical knowledge, but what is the use if there are no fair opportunities?” said Kalvankar.

As the sun set, the protest site had begun to fill up with aspirants who were done studying for the day. Every day, crowds have been swelling over the course of the evening to occupy the the road listening to speakers well into the early hours of the next day.

Ankita Khot, a 26-year-old from Kolhapur, had appeared for NEET and cleared NET and SET too, the eligibility tests for teaching in colleges and universities, and working on a PhD. But she had her heart set on joining the state civil services and has appeared for the exam twice. “All the students here are smart,” said Khot. “It’s not as if they are here because they couldn’t succeed in anything else.”

Referring to the protests led by Cockroach Janata Party in June after the NEET paper was leaked, Khot said, “Then, the students of Maharashtra could proudly say that an MPSC question paper has never leaked and we have full faith in it. Today, this faith has been shattered.”

She said it is an insult to the students of the state, who are protesting on the streets, that they are being called “urban naxals”. Earlier this month, Vikram Pachpute, a member of the legislative assembly from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, alleged that the protesters were being radicalised into becoming “urban naxals”.

Khot said the protesting aspirants are here with copies of the Constitution in their hands and that they have even studied it. “These students are fighting for their democratic rights,” said Khot. “If you don’t want to support them, sit quietly. Who is asking for your opinion?”

Jawaharlal Nehru University on Friday dismissed professor Angomcha Bimol Akoijam who had been accused of sexual harassment by 11 students, ANI reported.

Akoijam is a Congress Lok Sabha MP from Manipur.

The complaints of sexual harassment against Akoijam had been submitted to the university’s internal committee four months ago, The Times of India reported.

Akoijam, who lives on campus, has been accused of inviting students to his residence for gatherings and making sexual advances, the newspaper reported. Some complainants also alleged that he made allegedly lewd and inappropriate comments during classes and viva examinations, including demands for sexual acts in exchange for marks.

Akoijam had denied the allegations, accusing what he described as “racist schemers” attempting to tarnish his reputation with unverified claims and lies, India Today reported.

The university said on Friday that the allegations against Akoijam had been investigated by the internal committee. Based on the panel’s findings, the professor at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems was dismissed from service with immediate effect.

Responding to the development, Akoijam said he does not have the dismissal order, reported PTI.

“If there are allegations, then show me the evidence in the report or anywhere,” he was quoted as saying by the news agency. “Only then will you understand how this witch hunt has been going on. If it is true, let me see it.”

VIDEO | Imphal: Congress MP A. Bimol Akoijam on his dismissal from JNU, says, "I don't want to respond to social media. If this (incident) is true, it is a blessing in disguise for me, as I wanted these people to come out without their masks. The POSH Act, 2013, is not a Chinese… pic.twitter.com/Iq5Fh7Fyti

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 9, 2026

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

Delhi is under lockdown as the police have imposed unprecedented restrictions in the national capital to prevent young people from gathering at Jantar Mantar on October 10 to demand the resignation of India’s chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The protests have been sparked by a recent report in the Indian Express that revealed that Kumar had kept his fellow election commissioners in the dark about crucial decisions related to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The exercise has disenfranchised millions of Indians.

But one resignation might not be enough to restore free and fair elections in the country since the problems with India’s election machinery run deep.

In this episode of True Story, Scroll’s Executive Editor Supriya Sharma speaks with investigative reporter Ayush Tiwari who has extensively covered vote suppression, electoral malpractices and the institutional capture of the Election Commission.

The Supreme Court barred the authorities in Delhi from completely shutting down metro services on Saturday during a planned protest at Jantar Mantar against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Metro and other railway services must function “in a suitably regulated manner so that inconvenience to the public at large is minimised”, said the bench.

Earlier in the day, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said that entry and exit gates at 57 stations will be shut from 9 pm on Friday until Saturday. It is unclear if the metro authority will revise its notification in view of the Supreme Court order.

During the hearing, the court took note of the Union government’s assurance that the authorities will be urged to reconsider the closure and the movement of metro trains, and other railway services, keeping in mind the principle of proportionality. Read on.

Is 2026 the beginning of the end of the Modi era? writes Supriya Sharma

Ahead of the protests, all mail and express trains that were scheduled to arrive at New Delhi or Hazrat Nizamuddin stations between 4 am and 2 pm on Saturday have been cancelled at source. The cancellations also apply to trains to these stations scheduled to depart after 2 pm on Friday.

About 23,000 security personnel are expected to be deployed in Delhi, while at least 7,000 Central Reserve Police Force personnel are being brought in from Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.

Internet services have also been suspended around Janpath till 10 pm on Saturday. Police personnel are visiting colleges, mosques, resident welfare associations and other public places to discourage people from joining the protest. Read on.

‘Dragged out of train’: Pune students detained while on way to Delhi protest against Gyanesh Kumar, reports Tabassum Barnagarwala

India said that the United States’ decision to suspend several information technology companies from the permanent labour certification programme goes against advancing the shared ambitions of the two countries. New Delhi clarified that the suspension of permanent labour certification applications does not affect the validity of existing H-1B visas.

However, it said that there could be “some impact” on the Green Card process of eligible employees of the affected companies. Green Cards allow holders permanent residence in the US.

Cognizant, Capgemini, Microsoft, Adobe and India-based information technology companies Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and HCL are expected to be affected by the Donald Trump administration’s decision. Read on.

The Bharatiya Janata Party won the Assembly bye-elections in West Bengal’s Nandigram and Rejinagar.

In Nandigram, BJP candidate Hasi Rani Rath defeated Congress candidate Milan Pradhan by more than 1.2 lakh votes. In Rejinagar, BJP’s Shankharavh Sarkar defeated Aam Janata Unnayan Party’s Golam Nabi Azad by more than 75,800 votes. Read on.

Muslim voters stopped, Opposition arrested, journalists blocked in Bengal bye-poll, report Anant Gupta and Rokibuz Zaman

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to South African jurist Navi Pillay for her efforts to promote peace and international law. Pillay, 85, was born uder apartheid in Durban into a Tamil family of Indian-origin.

She has been “confronting deep structural discrimination, segregation and exclusion” and had shown that legal measures can help prevent war and violence, said the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Her commitment to universal legal principles and her “firm moral compass” are constants in a long career, it added. Read on.

Jawaharlal Nehru University dismissed professor Angomcha Bimol Akoijam who was accused of sexual harassment by 11 students. Akoijam is a Congress Lok Sabha MP from Manipur.

The complaints of sexual harassment against Akoijam had been submitted to the university’s internal committee four months ago. He had been accused of inviting students to his residence for gatherings and making sexual advances. Some complainants also alleged that he made lewd and inappropriate comments during classes, including demands for sexual acts in exchange for higher marks.

Angomcha Bimol Akoijam has denied the allegations, stating that they had been made to tarnish his reputation. Read on.

The international airport in Noida will be named after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, announced Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath. The airport, located in Jewar on the outskirts of the city, is currently named Noida International Airport. Read on.

If you haven’t already, sign up for our Daily Brief newsletter.

On Thursday night, Meta took down a viral video that purported to show Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Shankharav Sarkar going behind the screen of a polling booth where an electronic voting machine was placed during the bye-election for West Bengal’s Rejinagar Assembly constituency on October 6.

The video, posted by Golam Nabi Azad, the BJP’s principal opponent in the seat, was removed in compliance with a legal request from Indian authorities, according to a message that Meta overlaid on the post. The Aam Janata Unnayan Party leader in his Facebook post had described the bye-poll as an “unprecedented farce in the name of democracy”.

He alleged, “The BJP candidate himself has looted votes!”

On Tuesday, Scroll reporters in Rejinagar witnessed the police turning away Muslim voters from some polling stations. Opposition workers alleged that they were intimidated in the lead-up to the vote and some independent journalists said that the social media pages through which they disseminated their videos had also been blocked.

When the results of the bye-election in Rejinagar were announced on Friday, Sarkar was declared the winner with 1,29,914 votes, while Azad received 54,098 votes. In Nandigram, the other constituency in West Bengal in which a bye-poll was held, Hasirani Rath of the BJP beat Milan Pradhan of the Congress by 1,22,753 votes.

Candidate’s rights

The video posted by Azad purports to show BJP candidate Sarkar entering a library in Rejinagar’s Majlishpur village, where a polling station was set up on October 6. The clip shows him greeting voters in the queue with “Jai Shri Ram” and telling paramilitary personnel stationed there that he is “the BJP candidate”.

The video purports to show Sarkar going behind the screen of the booth, after which a beep is heard. The screen behind which the machine is placed identifies the polling station as “12 Majlishpur Rural Library” and the Assembly seat as “70 Rejinagar”.

According to the Election Commission’s model code of conduct, candidates can visit polling stations and inspect the process of voting if they have a valid pass. It is unclear from the video if the BJP leader was doing that on the day of the bye-election in Rejinagar.

On Friday afternoon, the West Bengal unit of the Congress party also posted the video on its X account, alleging that it depicted “vote chori” or vote stealing.

Want proof of VOTE CHORI? See it with your own eyes. 👇

BJP candidate for Reginagar by-poll, Shankharv Sarkar, is seen CASTING HIS VOTE in Reginagar!

Which is ILLEGAL.

Why? Because he is NOT a voter of Reginagar.
He is a voter of:
Berhampore Assembly, Part No. 200, Serial No.… pic.twitter.com/QG0RyxRjKF

— West Bengal Congress (@INCWestBengal) October 9, 2026

Former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi told Scroll that candidates can, at best, look at the electronic voting machine from a distance, but cannot go up to it.

“Nobody can touch the machine except the voter,” he added. “If a candidate has any concerns about the machine, he can complain to the presiding officer. He can’t go to the machine and ‘test’ it himself.”

OP Rawat, another former chief election commissioner, shared his view.

Sarkar, the BJP candidate, did not respond to calls and messages seeking a clarification. Neither did Harshal Pancholi, the Madhya Pradesh cadre Indian Administrative Officer whom the Election Commission appointed as the general observer for the Rejinagar bye-poll. The article will be updated if they respond.

Checking the rolls

The controversy could have been settled if Sarkar had gone up to the electronic voting machine to cast his own vote.

In his election affidavit, Sarkar had stated that he was registered as a voter in the Baharampur Assembly constituency, about 31 km away from Majlishpur. Scroll cross-checked this with the final voter list for that seat published by the Election Commission in April, before the Assembly elections, and found his name on it.

Technically, it is possible that the BJP candidate shifted his vote from Baharampur to Rejinagar between April and October. But a search with his electors photo identity card number on the Election Commission’s portal for voters to find their names on the electoral roll shows that Sarkar is still a voter in Baharampur.

Lakshmi Pal, the booth-level officer who drew up the electoral roll for 12 Majlishpur Rural Library, said that she had seen the viral video of the BJP in her polling station from Tuesday, but was unable to confirm or disprove it.

“I don’t know what happened inside that day,” she said. “We booth-level officers are not allowed to go inside.”

The bye-poll in Rejinagar became necessary because the seat had been won during the April Assembly elections by Humayun Kabir of the Aam Janata Unnayan Party. But Kabir had also won the Nowda Assembly seat and chose to retain that.

Nandigram held the bye-election because West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari won both Nandigram and Bhabanipur. He chose to retain Bhabanipur.

The international airport in Noida will be named after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, announced Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath on Friday.

The airport, located in Jewar on the outskirts of the city, is currently named Noida International Airport. Flights began in June.

The proposal to change the name was passed by the state Cabinet, the chief minister said.

Reacting to this, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav said that facilities and institutions are usually named after eminent persons to remember them.

“Those who do not believe anybody would remember them want to name structures after themselves in their lifetime,” said Yadav. “We have no objection to it. But, the chief minister who has changed the name of the airport, residents of Uttar Pradesh are about to vote him out.”

Written by Nachiket Deuskar. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

The Bharatiya Janata Party won the Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly bye-elections in West Bengal on Friday.

In Nandigram, BJP candidate Hasi Rani Rath defeated Congress candidate Milan Pradhan by more than 1.2 lakh votes.

Rath is mother of an aide to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari who was shot dead two days after the state election results were announced in May.

The Trinamool Congress faction led by former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee decided to support Pradhan after the faction’s candidate had withdrawn her nomination, shortly after photographs of her meeting Adhikari were shared online.

The bye-poll became necessary after Adhikari vacated the seat. The chief minister had won the Nandigram and Bhabanipur seats during the state polls.

Adhikari has held the seat since 2016. He left the TMC and joined the BJP in December 2020, months ahead of the 2021 polls.

In Rejinagar, BJP’s Shankharavh Sarkar defeated Aam Janata Unnayan Party’s Golam Nabi Azad by more than 75,800 votes. Congress’ Abdullahil Kafi finished third and the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC group’s Rabiul Alam Chowdhury fourth.

The bye-election in the Muslim-majority constituency became necessary after Aam Janata Unnayan Party chief Humayun Kabir, who had won Rejinagar and Nowda in the May, decided to retain Nowda.

Polling for the bye-elections were held on Tuesday and Opposition parties had alleged intimidation of voters and irregularities.

Nandigram

On Tuesday, Pradhan alleged that his polling agents were being prevented from entering booths and accused the police of ignoring complaints of intimidation and other irregularities. He also claimed that police had lathi-charged voters in Chakraberia.

Meanwhile, the police detained the Congress chief of Nandigram-I block over alleged attempts to create disturbances during polling, based on a complaint by BJP leaders.

Pradhan was arrested on September 18 in connection with a 2007 murder case and was subsequently shown as arrested in five other cases.

On September 28, the Calcutta High Court granted Pradhan interim bail in six criminal cases dating back to 2007, allowing him to campaign for the bye-poll.

Also read: One-party election: BJP looks to sweep Nandigram with help from police and Trinamool turncoats

Rejinagar

Kabir was arrested on Tuesday after a scuffle with police personnel. He had alleged that a large number of personnel had been deployed near his home and at polling booths to intimidate voters and his party workers in Rejinagar.

The police arrived at the Aam Janata Unnayan Party office in the constituency and asked Kabir to leave, saying that he could not remain there during polling as he was neither a candidate nor an authorised polling agent.

An argument broke out between him and the police personnel, and the MLA refused to go home.

The argument escalated into a scuffle, after which police personnel detained Kabir in a police vehicle.

Kabir was arrested on allegations of attempting to influence voters and incite them. He was released after 12 hours in custody.

Other bye-polls

The votes were also counted for the bye-elections in Puducherry’s Thattanchavady, where the candidate of the ruling All India NR Congress won.

The candidate of Tamil Nadu’s ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam won in the state’s Dharapuram constituency. The party’s candidate in Madurantakam was leading by more than 19,600 votes after 20 rounds of counting, as of 6 pm. Seven rounds were remaining.

The BJP candidate was leading an All India United Democratic Front nominee by more than 1.6 lakh votes in the Lok Sabha bye-election in Assam’s Nagaon.

Written by Anamika Pathak. Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

Also read: As a Bengal seat goes to bye-polls, SIR deleted voters are stuck in limbo

India on Friday said that the United States’ decision to suspend several information technology companies from the permanent labour certification programme goes against advancing the shared ambitions of the two countries.

Permanent labour certification is a process that employers must complete before filing petitions for most employment-based green cards. Under the programme, employers must establish that there are no qualified, willing and available US workers for a particular job.

Cognizant, Capgemini, Microsoft, Adobe and India-based information technology companies Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and HCL are expected to be affected by the Donald Trump administration’s decision.

The Indian external affairs ministry said that the permanent labour certification programme is different from the H-1B visa programme, which allows companies in the US to temporarily employ foreign workers for special occupations.

The suspension of permanent labour certification applications does not affect the validity of existing H-1B visas or the persons who hold the visa and their dependents, it said.

However, it said that there could be “some impact” on the Green Card process of eligible employees of the affected companies. A green card allows a foreign citizen to live and work permanently in the US.

Over the past few years, Indians have constituted the majority of H-1B visa holders. Indians comprised 71% of all H-1B visas issued by the US in the financial year 2023-’24.

The ministry further described US Vice President JD Vance’s remarks on the decision as “unwarranted”.

Vance, who announced the new measures with US Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, said that the H-1B programme was meant to allow US companies to hire “the best of the best from outside the United States of America for positions that are completely impossible to fill with American workers”.

He added that companies should hire “great American workers” instead of “foreign indentured servants”.

New Delhi responded by saying that “such descriptions ignore the fact” that Indian professionals in the US are “highly educated and skilled contributors” to its economy and innovation ecosystem.

“Indeed, the history of the United States itself has been shaped by generations of immigrants whose labour, enterprise and innovation have contributed to its growth and prosperity,” the ministry said. “Resorting to terminology that carries painful historical and colonial legacy connotations is deeply offensive.”

The ministry also said that talent mobility “adds value” to both economies.

“While it creates opportunities for Indians, it equally helps US companies with cutting-edge talent, innovation, research, productivity, competitiveness and job creation, besides creating shareholder wealth in the US,” it added.

Written by Anamika Pathak. Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

A Delhi court on Friday granted former Wrestling Federation of India Chief Brij Bhushan Singh time to file his response to an appeal filed by four women wrestlers challenging his acquittal in a sexual harassment case, Live Law reported.

When the court asked the Delhi Police if it would challenge Singh’s acquittal, the public prosecutor said the decision was yet to be made and sought 15 days, reported PTI.

The court posted the matter for hearing next on October 28.

On August 3, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Ashwini Panwar of Rouse Avenue Courts acquitted the former Bharatiya Janata Party MP and his co-accused Vinod Tomar, a former assistant secretary of the wrestling federation.

In his order, Panwar stated that the allegations against Singh were “false and fabricated” and seemed to be “politically motivated”.

Noting that the complaint against Singh was filed long after the alleged sexual harassment, the court had said that the wrestlers’ accusations appeared to be “rehearsed, well-practised and planted”, while also observing that the complainants had maintained “cordial relations” with Singh for years.

The judge had also pointed out that the complainants had maintained “cordial relations” with Singh for years and invited him to family functions.

On September 25, four women wrestlers moved a Delhi court against the acquittal, saying that Panwar’s order applied the “ideal victim standard” to the wrestlers who had accused Singh of sexual harassment and intimidation.

They also said that the order was based on “archaic and stereotypical assumptions” about the “expected” behaviour of victims of sexual assault and harassment, and lacked a “fair, evidence-based assessment” that took into account the circumstances of the victims.

On September 28, the court issued notices to Singh and Tomar in the wrestlers’ appeal.

In January 2023, several Indian wrestlers, including medallists Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat, launched a protest against Singh.

Seven complainants, including a minor, accused the BJP leader of demanding sexual favours for professional help on at least two occasions, and also reported 15 incidents of alleged molestation and other forms of sexual harassment.

The former MP was later cleared with respect to allegations made by one of the women.

In the August 3 order, the judge said that two of the complainants had “categorically admitted” that they were not sexually harassed by Singh.

He further said that even when the complaints were made, some of the wrestlers gave “wrong” details about the country and year in which the alleged incident took place.

“The shift in the first/initial version of the witness with respect to the place/country and the year where the incident allegedly occurred is fatal to the prosecution story,” said the judge.

Edited by Sneha.

A 20-year-old woman from Assam who had called her family to say that she was feeling unsafe aboard a train from Visakhapatnam to Guwahati was found dead beside a railway track in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday, reported The Hindu.

While the railway police said they suspect Himashree Boro fell off the running train, her family alleged that she was murdered.

Boro, a college student from Guwahati, had travelled to Visakhapatnam for a dance competition. She boarded the Kanyakumari-Dibrugarh Vivek Express alone at around 12.15 am on Tuesday, reported The Times of India.

Soon after, she told a friend and family members that she was feeling uncomfortable in a coach full of “unruly, inebriated” men, reported The Indian Express.

She had reportedly also shared a video with her family from inside the train before her phone became unreachable around 3 am.

The family contacted the railway helpline and were told that Railway Protection Force personnel would check on Boro.

Boro’s body was found more than 24 hours later close to the railway tracks in Tekkali in Srikakulam, The Assam Tribune reported.

The police have registered a case under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita section relating to suspicious death.

Members of the B Barooah College Students’ Union held a protest on Thursday, demanding a thorough investigation into the circumstances leading to Boro’s death, The Assam Tribune reported.

On Friday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said he had written to Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu “requesting a thorough investigation into the matter”.

Sarma said an officer of the Assam Police had been deputed to Andhra Pradesh to coordinate with the law enforcement agencies there.

Edited by Sneha.

The Supreme Court on Friday barred the authorities in Delhi from imposing a complete closure of metro services in the national capital on Saturday during a protest at Jantar Mantar against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Bar and Bench reported.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant said that metro and other railway services must function “in a suitably regulated manner so that inconvenience to the public at large is minimised”.

The court also directed the authorities to publicise its decision about the curbs to avoid inconvenience to commuters.

The bench took note of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s assurance that the authorities will be urged to reconsider the closure and the movement of metro trains and other railway services, keeping in mind the principle of proportionality.

The order came on petitions filed in the Supreme Court challenging the cancellation of trains coming to Delhi, the proposed closure of 57 metro stations in the national capital and the alleged shutdown of internet services in the capital in view of the protest on Saturday, Live Law reported.

Kant had verbally observed during the hearing that the authorities can “restrict unruly movement” when needed. “But that does not mean you can bring everything to a halt and leave people without any transport facility,” Bar and Bench quoted him as having said.

Restrictions in place

The railways had cancelled trains arriving at two major stations in the national capital and the police asking the metro to shut 57 stations.

The police said that they have denied permission for the protest, led by the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign and youth groups affiliated to Left parties. The police also warned that participants could face legal action.

About 23,000 security personnel are expected to be deployed in Delhi, while at least 7,000 Central Reserve Police Force personnel are being brought in from Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.

All mail and express trains scheduled to arrive at New Delhi Railway Station and the Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station between 4 am and 2 pm on Saturday have been cancelled, The Times of India reported on Thursday. The railways cited anticipated road traffic congestion around the stations as the reason.

The cancellations also apply to trains scheduled to depart from their originating stations after 2 pm on Friday.

The police had asked the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to close the entry and exit gates at 57 metro stations from 9 pm on Friday until the “situation normalises” on Saturday, ANI reported.

The police have also proposed reducing train frequency at these stations, citing the “likelihood of large and unruly crowds”.

The stations identified by the police include Lok Kalyan Marg, near the prime minister’s residence, and Rajiv Chowk, Patel Chowk and Janpath, all near the protest site.

Delhi | "In view of proposed protests and the likelihood of unruly mob movement, Delhi Metro entry/exit gates across 57 stations may be closed from 9:00 PM on October 9 till the situation normalizes on October 10," according to a letter written by the Delhi Police to the DMRC. pic.twitter.com/YXXHD2TVmU

— ANI (@ANI) October 9, 2026

Also read: At least 10,000 detained across India ahead of October 10 protest against Gyanesh Kumar, alleges CJP

Demands for Kumar’s resignation

The protesters have raised concerns after The Indian Express’ September 23 investigation showed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected 14 times in 10 months to decisions by the poll panel related to the special intensive revision, saying some had been taken without their knowledge.

According to The Indian Express investigation, Sandhu and Joshi had reportedly objected to changes to Form 6, appeals against the inclusion of voters in West Bengal and the handling of voter data in Goa, among other matters. Form 6 is used to register new voters.

In one written objection, Sandhu was quoted as having stated that the poll panel had acted against the advice of both commissioners and described the action as “unauthorised and illegal”.

The two election commissioners had also raised concerns over access to the digital electoral roll database.

Since the exercise began in June 2025, the SIR has faced questions about the manner and pace of its implementation, amid concerns that it could deny genuine electors their right to vote and shape election outcomes, as Scroll has reported.

The Opposition has also demanded the removal of Kumar.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava, Nachiket Deuskar and Sneha.

Follow Scroll’s coverage of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls here.

At least 10,000 persons, including students, farmers and members of Dalit organisations, have been detained across India ahead of a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Saturday against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the Cockroach Janta Party alleged on Thursday.

Several student and civil society organisations have also alleged that police are detaining persons travelling to Delhi to stop them from taking part in the protest. The police are also restricting the movement of activists and asking residents not to join the demonstration, they alleged.

The protest – called by CJP, Left groups, student organisations and civil society activists – is being held to demand Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the conduct of the special intensive revision of voter rolls and to scrap the exercise.

Leaders of the INDIA bloc, student unions and other groups have been holding protests in Delhi since October 2.

Detentions and restrictions

In Maharashtra, the All India Students’ Federation leader Shravani Bua and her colleagues alleged that police stopped them from travelling to Delhi at Bhusawal railway station.

Alarming

AISF leader Shravni Bua has uploaded this on her social media.

On her way to Delhi with her colleagues, they have been picked up from Jhasi railway station.

The student leaders say they don't know where they are being taken pic.twitter.com/jGgouv89KX

— Parth MN (@parthpunter) October 8, 2026

The student union also alleged that around 22 women students travelling from Pune to Delhi were detained by Madhya Pradesh Police at Itarsi.

AISF students from Pune, travelling to Delhi for the Jantar Mantar protest, have been detained by Madhya Pradesh Police at Itarsi.

The detention took place moments ago. We are currently trying to ascertain where the students are being taken and the grounds for their detention.… pic.twitter.com/YT2jw5Flhl

— Viraaj Devang (@ViraajDevang) October 8, 2026

The students were taken to a hotel, The Hindu reported.

#Watch | Around 22 female students affiliated with the AISF ( All India Students' Federation), who were travelling from Pune to Delhi, were detained by the Madhya Pradesh police at Itarsi and taken to a hotel.
Video credit: Special arrangements pic.twitter.com/uVCJTPzgmX

— The Hindu (@the_hindu) October 9, 2026

The CJP alleged that Rajasthan Police assaulted its national spokesperson Deepak Baliyan and detained him from his home in Alwar district.

The political campaign also alleged that four of its volunteers from Telangana were detained in Bhopal while travelling to Delhi.

This is the absolute dictatorial face of this government.

CJP National Organisation Co-Incharge Deepak Baliyan was allegedly dragged, beaten and detained by Rajasthan Police, and taken to an unknown location.

Are we on the verge of an Emergency? pic.twitter.com/pRku9044n6

— Cockroach Janta Party - CJP (@Cockroachisback) October 8, 2026

In Delhi, Students’ Federation of India leader Aishe Ghosh alleged that police entered the organisation’s national office carrying sticks. She also shared a video that showed the organisation’s national vice-president, Satyesha, under house arrest in Gujarat.

Just landed from Bengaluru and got to know that Police in each and every state is almost hounding our activists.

1st video is from Delhi, where the police entered our National Office with sticks and enquired about the details of our activists.

2nd video is from Gujarat, where… pic.twitter.com/vo5yyNYAN0

— Aishe (ঐশী) (@aishe_ghosh) October 8, 2026

The CJP also alleged that the police entered the home of its north zone coordinator, in the national capital’s South Extension area.

🚨#Alert: It’s 1 AM and the Delhi Police is illegally breaking into our North Zone Coordinator Mohan Yadav’s house in South Extension.

They are also misbehaving with his wife. They have two small kids who are currently traumatised!

It’s a state of emergency. The government has… pic.twitter.com/hGydEPBCAT

— Saurav Das (@SauravDassss) October 8, 2026

Since late Thursday night, Delhi Police have been making public announcements near Parliament warning that Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita was in force, Scroll reported. The section prohibits gatherings, processions and road blockades. The police also warned of legal action against violators.

Delhi Police announcement near Parliament. pic.twitter.com/9yTtVysr25

— Ayush Tiwari (@sighyush) October 8, 2026

Separately, a group of 47 academics, researchers, civil society members and activists has written to Delhi Police Commissioner Satish Golchha, alleging that police personnel are visiting colleges, mosques, resident welfare associations and other public places to discourage people from joining the protest.

📍 पुरानी दिल्ली

दिल्ली पुलिस के एक अधिकारी ने मस्जिद में जाकर लोगों से 10 अक्टूबर के CJP प्रदर्शन में शामिल न होने की अपील की। अधिकारी ने कहा “परिवार को समझाएं कि unnecessary भीड़ या protest में हिस्सा न लें, क्योंकि प्रशासन अपना काम कर रहा है।”

विडंबना देखिए जिस मस्जिद के… pic.twitter.com/GqTqRmn44c

— Muslim Voice Cell (@MuslimVoiceCell) October 8, 2026

The letter, dated Friday, also alleged that police are approaching operators of paying guest accommodation and asking them to restrain students and other tenants from attending demonstrations.

“Please ensure that your force ceases these unconstitutional and criminal pressure tactics immediately, failing which you shall be called to account in every manner known to the law,” the letter said.

The signatories include political activist Yogendra Yadav, academic Apoorvanand and economist Jayati Ghosh.

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said on Friday that the protesters would proceed with the march to Jantar Mantar despite the detentions and restrictions.

Addressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Dipke added: “If you want to jail us or even shoot us, we are prepared. We won’t succumb to your psychotic behaviour.”

‘No permission for Saturday protest’: Police

The Delhi Police has reiterated that it has denied permission for the October 10 demonstration at Jantar Mantar, ANI reported.

Around 23,000 security personnel are expected to be deployed across Delhi ahead of the protests, ANI reported quoting unidentified officials.

On Thursday, The Hindu reported that at least 70 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force, comprising around 7,000 personnel, were being mobilised from West Bengal and Chhattisgarh in the capital.

The personnel were instructed to carry anti-riot equipment, weapons and ammunition.

Demands for Kumar’s resignation

The protesters have raised concerns after The Indian Express’ September 23 investigation showed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected 14 times in 10 months to decisions by the poll panel related to the special intensive revision, saying some had been taken without their knowledge.

Since the exercise began in June 2025, the SIR has faced questions about the manner and pace of its implementation, amid concerns that it could deny genuine electors their right to vote and shape election outcomes, as Scroll has reported.

The Opposition has also demanded the removal of Kumar.

Kumar has not yet commented on The Indian Express’ investigation. However, after the report was published, the Election Commission had said that “operational queries or inputs raised by commission members during draft stages are part of standard administrative practice” to safeguard voter rights.

Written by Sara Varghese. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

Ravi G, a construction labourer from the village of Heggadadevanakote in Mysuru, has lost several days of wages in the process of running around to try and get his documents verified for the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls in Karnataka.

“They are asking for my father’s death certificate, I don’t know where to go for it,” he said. He was also asked to produce his Class 10 marks sheet. “I didn’t even go to school ,” the 38-year-old said. “How will I produce a marks sheet?”

Although the process had already cost him some income, Ravi chose to forgo one more day’s wages on Thursday to travel 150 km to register his anger with the SIR at the “People Tribunal” organised by civil society organisations and student groups in Bengaluru’s Freedom Park.

The event received significant attention because of the presence of the Cockroach Janata Party’s Abhijeet Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, as well as YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and actor Prakash Raj. Hundreds gathered to demand the resignation of the chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, and the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision.

Several others from Heggadadevanakote were also at the protest. “There are 42 people from our village of 650 who have received notices, that is why we are here,” said 46-year-old Gopal, a shopkeeper and farmer. “They are being told their addresses don’t match or names are incorrect, even though they have been there all their lives.”

Shivanna, a 56-year-old farmer from the village said, “An orphan from our village is being harassed because he is unable to locate his parent’s details. But he has been voting since 2013.” Shivanna added, “Who gives these people the right to steal our votes?”

Shivanna and others are also making plans to travel to Delhi to join a protest that has been called by the Cockroach Janata Party on October 10. “I am equal to the prime minister or the chief minister or any other person in this country,” he said.

The SIR in Karnataka

In Karnataka, 1.07 crore names were excluded from the draft roll, and 43.81 lakh notices were sent to voters over supposed discrepancies. Reports have also emerged from various parts of the state of bulk submissions to the election commission of Form 7, which allows individuals to object to others being included on the rolls. Many of these submissions largely had names of people from the Muslim and other minority communities. The police have filed FIRs against some of those who made the bulk submissions.

“They want to lower the numbers of minorities in the country,” said a Christian nun who attended the protest with a group of others from her congregation. “They don’t want us here. They have made it quite clear that is what they want to do.”

Requesting anonymity, she added, “They’re making us run around for this document, that document even though we have produced everything we have.”

Another nun said it was her civic “duty” to attend the protest. “Our colleagues’ and relatives’ names are missing from the lists,” she said. “It is our right and duty to be here.”

At noon, a Dipke and his team arrived at the venue chanting “Jai Bhim”, the crowd roared. Dipke told the protestors that the current government did not believe in the principles espoused by BR Ambedkar, but rather in those espoused by Nathuram Godse. He encouraged citizens to raise their voices because the “streets belong to us”.

In his address, actor Prakash Raj said that demanding the resignation of the chief election commissioner was not sufficient. Instead, the “SIR needs to be scrapped entirely and a criminal case has to be filed against Gyanesh”, he said.

The audience cheered. “Thirteen crore names being crossed off the list is illegal and unconstitutional,” said a 24-year-old engineer, who asked not to be identified. He held a placard that read “Watch Dog and Not Lapdog”. He added that the “regime needs to change”.

Protestors of different ages

Twenty-six-year-old Maryam explained that she, too, had received a notice from the election commission. “I mapped myself to my grandmother because only her name was in the 2002 list, but I was told only five people could be mapped to one person,” she said. “They are making us more and more confused everyday.”

She said that she was attending the protest because she wanted to be “part of the change”.

Her friend, 22-year-old Yafiya, had decided to attend because her father’s name was missing from the draft electoral list. She also wanted to show her solidarity with the Cockroach Janata Party, which had also called a “chappal protest” from 4 pm onwards at the same venue to demand safety and equal rights for women, in light of recent crimes against women in the national capital.

“I have been following them from the beginning and appreciate what they are trying to do,” she said.

One 66-year-old entrepreneur who asked not to be identified lashed out against the misuse of Form 7. “What is with the Form 7? They want me to file a Form 7 against my own neighbours?” he said. “We have become a Nazi country.”

Sixty-five-year-old Basha said he had been forced to visit government offices and stand in enormous lines to complete the verification process as a result of the government’s own error. “My age in the 2002 list is printed wrongly. My 1993 voter’s ID has my correct age,” he said. “Now I have to stand in these long lines because of a discrepancy that isn’t even my fault.”

While many young protestors had attended the gathering because of their admiration for Dipke and the Cockroach Janata Party, some older protestors attended as a result of more longstanding fears. Many said they had attended to express their frustration over the “decline of democracy” under the current government.

“I feel very strongly for this cause,” 80-year-old Krishna Kumar said, tearing up as he spoke. “It makes me very sad. They have destroyed so many institutions in the country.”

When asked if they felt that the protests gave people hope, Kumar’s wife Radha said, “We have no choice but to be hopeful.”

The Allahabad High Court on Thursday questioned the use of the term “andolanjeevi” in the grounds for detaining journalist Satyam Verma under the National Security Act after the workers’ protests in Noida, Live Law reported.

“Where did this term ‘andolanjeevi’ come from?” the court was quoted as asking verbally. “How did it find its way into an official document?”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi first used the term in 2021 during protests against the now-repealed farm laws, describing protesters as a new category of people who “are like parasites who feed off protests”.

The bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Achal Sachdev was hearing Verma’s petition challenging his detention under the National Security Act. The Act allows for long periods of detention without trial up to a year.

During the hearing, the bench perused the detention order dated May 12, issued by Gautam Buddh Nagar District Magistrate Medha Roopam, and the grounds of detention supplied to Verma.

The 60-year-old former journalist from Lucknow was among two persons detained under the Act on May 13. Verma and 25-year-old Aakriti Chaudhary are members of the Mazdoor Bigul Dasta, a workers’ organisation.

The police alleged that the two had played a “significant” role in "instigating violence, arson and creating chaos” during the protest. Verma and Chaudhary “provoked” persons in different areas to “disturb public order”, the police alleged.

The document listing the grounds for detaining Verma described him as an “irrational and obstinate” “andolanjeevi”, Live Law reported.

It alleged that persons such as him acted out of a “vicious ideology” and were “the principal planners of such circumstances causing public disturbance and actively create industrial unrest in Manesar industrial area…”

It also mentioned that Verma was the founding member of the Revolutionary Workers Party of India and the publisher and writer of Mazdoor Bigul, a monthly newspaper on workers’ rights. Copies of Mazdoor Bigul, books containing writings inspired by Mao Zedong and other “objectionable anti-democratic-system documents” were recovered from his office, The Hindu quoted the detention grounds as stating.

The material made Verma’s contribution to inciting the violence “directly evident”, it alleged.

During Thursday’s hearing, the bench questioned why Roopam had cited Verma’s ideology, reading material and association with an organisation to justify his preventive detention. It also asked how holding particular political beliefs or possessing certain literature could, by itself, justify such detention.

In his petition, Verma has submitted that the detention grounds were a “direct, unverified and verbatim reproduction” of a social media thread, Live Law reported.

The petition added that the social media posts had sought to link the Noida demonstrations with other protests and political developments in the country.

It also stated that CCTV footage placed Verma in Lucknow at around 2.13 pm on the day of the protests that police took him into custody shortly afterwards. It cited his phone records to support his claim that he was not at the scene, alleging that the authorities ignored this evidence while considering the call records of another accused, Live Law reported.

The petition added that Verma was not named in any of the 11 first information reports cited in support of his detention.

On September 2, the Allahabad High Court quashed Chaudhary’s detention, citing a lack of material evidence. It had noted that the order, also issued by Roopam, had been passed “without application of mind”.

Despite her detention under the Act being quashed, she remains in jail because she has been named in several first information reports in connection with the protest.

On September 24, the Supreme Court stayed parts of the High Court’s judgement, including its critical remarks against Roopam and directions to pay Rs 5 lakh as compensation. It clarified that the quashing of Chaudhary’s detention under the National Security Act remained in force.

Watch: How Uttar Pradesh police went after women who dared to protest for better wages in Noida

Noida workers’ protest

On April 13, about 40,000 to 45,000 workers from several industrial units had gathered in parts of the city to press long-standing demands that their salaries be increased. The protests came amid increasing gas prices because of the supply disruption caused by the war in West Asia.

The demonstration had turned violent, with videos widely shared on social media showing some protesters throwing stones and vandalising property.

On April 14, more than 350 persons had been arrested in connection with the violence.

Witnesses had alleged that the police personnel deployed to contain the violence on April 13 had beaten up the protesters.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

Also read:

• Noida and beyond: India’s workers are being shortchanged. They deserve a fair deal

• Fact check: Despite official denial, viral video showing police beating women workers is from Noida

Trillionaire Elon Musk on Thursday asked if “Ambani is the real boss” of India amid an online debate about his Starlink satellite internet network not having received clearance to operate in the country.

“Starlink is licensed in over 165 countries and has spent five years complying with every single law and requirement of the government of India, so why still no license?” he asked.

Musk did not specify which member of the Ambani family he was referring to. Scroll has requested comment from Reliance Industries Limited. This report will be updated if we receive a comment.

In a response to Musk’s remark, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said: “Welcome to India, Elon. Wait till you discover the other guy.”

Musk was responding to a comment by another social media user who alleged that the Indian government was “more interested in protecting the interests of crony capitalists than of citizens”.

The businessman’s remark came a day after he accused “certain oligarchs” in India of blocking the launch of Starlink, saying that they are trying to protect their “monopolistic chokehold” over the industry.

Starlink provides internet access through a constellation of satellites placed in low-earth orbit by Musk’s spacecraft manufacturing company SpaceX.

If launched in India, Starlink will compete in the country’s satellite internet market with Jio Space Technology, a joint venture part of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, and Eutelsat OneWeb, backed by Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel Group.

“You can guess who they are,” Musk had said on social media platform X, which he owns. “This is a crime against the people of India!”

Musk was responding to a post calling for Starlink to be launched in India. He did not name the people or companies he was referring to.

He also said that Starlink would provide “high-speed, affordable” internet access to people who cannot afford existing services or do not have an internet connection.

Starlink is licensed in over 165 countries and has spent five years complying with every single law and requirement of the government of India, so why still no license?

Is Ambani the real boss of India? https://t.co/KUSgfJRynZ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 8, 2026

Akash Ambani, a non-executive director of Reliance Industries, made no comments on the initial remarks by Musk on Wednesday when asked about them by Business Today on the sidelines of an event in Delhi.

On Thursday, the Union government defended India’s regulatory framework for satellite communication services, saying it was “fair and non-discriminatory”.

The Ministry of Communications did not specifically name Musk or Starlink in its statement but referred to a widely shared post on social media.

The ministry said the government had a common authorisation framework for all telecommunication services, including satellite communications and that licensees were required to comply with “security conditions”.

It said licences had been granted to three providers and that they were “at broadly the same regulatory stage”.

The companies will need to meet the security requirements before moving on to the next stage of obtaining spectrum, the government said.

Competition in India’s satellite internet market

Musk’s comments came hours after SpaceX executive Lauren Dreyer said that she hoped Starlink would be operational in India by 2027, The Hindu reported.

Dreyer had said on Wednesday that Starlink had built 20 gateway sites – hardware that connects satellites to the wired ground network – with hundreds of antennas across India. She said the company was ready to launch an internet service that would comply with India’s “security requirements and other regulations”, ANI reported.

Mittal said on Thursday that Eutelsat OneWeb was also waiting for approvals to begin operations, PTI reported.

Starlink has obtained authorisation for a global mobile personal communications by satellite from the Department of Telecommunications, but is yet to receive the security clearances required to begin operations, The Hindu reported.

The security rules, some of which were amended in May, require SpaceX to disable Starlink receivers purchased outside India and terminals sold within the country if they are taken abroad, the newspaper reported.

The rules also impose extensive surveillance on satellite internet and other telecom and broadband services.

Musk on Thursday also reiterated that Starlink was not being used by militants in Manipur. “Starlink beams are turned off over India, so the claim that they were used by anyone for any reason is absolutely false,” he said.

He had rejected similar claims in December 2024 after the Indian Army and Assam Rifles seized a device carrying the Starlink label along with arms and ammunition during operations in Manipur.

Written by Nachiket Deuskar. Edited by Sneha.

Also read: Starlink: India’s new satellite internet rules are a fresh hurdle – what five experts think

Five persons were killed after a four-storey building collapsed in northeast Delhi’s Seemapuri on Wednesday, PTI reported.

Three bodies of a pregnant woman, a 12-year-old girl and a child aged around one-and-a-half years were recovered from the site on Thursday.

Later in the day, two more were recovered, PTI quoted an unidentified government official as saying.

The building collapsed at about 3.30 pm on Wednesday, burying portions of two to three adjoining houses under the debris.

Residents said that the building had developed cracks after tremors felt in the national capital because of an earthquake in Uttarakhand on Tuesday. Officials said that the exact cause of the collapse will be investigated.

Eight persons injured in the collapse have been taken to hospital for treatment. Rescue teams were clearing the site.

The incident came a month after a five-storey building in southwest Delhi’s Satya Niketan collapsed on September 6, leaving seven persons dead and 12 injured.

That building was reportedly 40 to 50 years old, and repair work was underway in the basement when it collapsed.

The Delhi High Court had said that “callous and criminal conduct” had led to the incident.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

In September, a kilogram of onion cost 93% more than last year, while sugar prices were up 28% and rice was up about 8%, on average, according to ISignal’s Food Price Watch dashboard, which uses Department of Consumer Affairs data. This is in a year with the fourth lowest rainfall since the turn of the century, as the country approaches the withdrawal of the monsoon with a 13% deficit.

Sustained low prices in past years pushed farmers away from onion, experts say, while the government lists factors such as increased demand and speculation for the increase in sugar prices.

“Extreme climate events are raising agricultural risk, disrupting the global food system, increasing the chance of multiple breadbasket failure and pushing up food prices around the world,” a September 2026 analysis by Zero Carbon Analytics noted, adding that “historically unprecedented heat, drought, rain and cold are causing food price spikes across all continents”.

It also noted that perishable foods such as fruits and vegetables can face larger price swings because of their limited shelf life and more vulnerable supply chains.

ISignal reached out to the Department of Consumer Affairs for comment. We will update this report when we receive a response.

Onion farmers cut back after low prices

The retail price of onion in September was Rs 52.8, the highest monthly average price since November 2024. Further, since 2014, average monthly prices were higher than this on only eight occasions, our analysis shows. Prices more than doubled since May this year.

Last September, retail prices of onion were Rs 27.4, the lowest for that month since 2022.

“Onion prices remained low for two to three years. At times, the farmer could not even recover the cost from harvesting the onion, transporting it and taking it to the market, resulting in a negative return,” said Sominath Gholwe, an agricultural researcher. “Because of this, some farmers turned away from onion cultivation.” He explained that it now costs at least Rs 12.5 to produce and bring 1 kg onion to the market, up from around Rs 10.

Onion crop is harvested in three seasons: rabi in March-May; kharif in September-November and late kharif in January-February.

“Along with Maharashtra, onions are stored in large quantities in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan, and stocks have been lower there this year as well because many farmers did not store onions after last year's low prices,” Ritesh Poman, an onion trader at the Pune Agricultural Produce Market Committee, said.

Kharif onion is important for price stability “during the lean months between rabi and peak kharif arrivals”, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution explained in a June 2024 press release. Government estimates put onion production at 30.74 million tonnes in 2025-26, comparable to the 30.77 million tonnes the year before.

Poman also expects the new crop to arrive later than last year, and says “its quantity will be much lower”.

This year, the government procured 121,000 tonnes of rabi onion for its 2026-’27 buffer stock, against a target of 200,000 tonnes, and began releasing onions at Rs 35 per kg.

“The government buffer stock has not made much difference in our market,” Poman said. “The stock is being sent through rakes from Lasalgaon to markets such as Mumbai and Azadpur.”

Gholwe said that last year, the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India bought and stored onions, then released them as farmers’ stocks ran down, which kept prices stable.

Sugar prices peaked in August

September sugar prices have risen every year since 2019. Last month, 1 kg sugar retailed at Rs 59.2, on average, 51% above Rs 39.1 in 2019. About two-thirds of this increase came in the last one year.

The government attributed higher prices to lower-than-expected production, increased demand, weather-related crop damage, tightening global supplies, and speculation and hoarding. This week, the government revised stock-holding norms, a move aimed at “curbing hoarding, discouraging speculative trading and preventing accumulation of sugar stocks by dealers”.

Addressing concerns that the price hike is due to the use of sugarcane in ethanol, the government said, “The share of sugar diverted for ethanol production has declined from around 12% in 2022-23 to around 9% in 2025-26. Moreover, nearly three-fourths of the ethanol produced in the country now comes from grains, particularly maize.”

Maize was not used to make ethanol in 2021-’22 but by 2025-’26, it contributed to 37% of production. This has led to an increase in prices of bird feed for poultry farmers, who are struggling to choose between passing these costs on to consumers or absorbing losses, as ISignal explained in September.

Agriculture ministry data show that sugarcane production had risen from 454.6 million tonnes in 2024-25 to 500 million tonnes in 2025-26. Gholwe attributed the increase to higher rainfall last year. He expects El Niño to affect next year’s cane in drought-prone areas that depend on borewell and well water.

Shekhar Gaikwad, retired sugar commissioner of Maharashtra, said higher sugarcane production does not necessarily translate into higher sugar production. “The growth of sugarcane was affected because there was rain in June, when the crop was growing vigorously, but there was no rain in July, August and September. The stalks became smaller and their number also declined,” he said.

One tonne of sugar can be produced from 10 tonnes of sugarcane. This year, the government estimates that sugar production will reach 30.6 million tonnes, 11% below the initial estimate of 34.3 million tonnes, due to Red Rot and Top Borer disease, and waterlogging caused by excess rain.

Sugar prices rose from Rs 48.18 per kg on July 20 to Rs 55.70 on August 20, and peaked at Rs 65.05 on August 26, according to Food Price Watch data. By September 20, they fell 11.5% from the peak to Rs 57.54.

Gholwe said mills were not allowed to issue tenders for two months, “and sugar prices rose sharply”. He explained that the stock that the mills had stored was released all at once.

“The mills had sold their August sugar in the normal course, but the traders did not lift it,” Gaikwad said. “The government then required the sugar to be lifted within seven days. Once that sugar came into the market, the rates came down.”

To increase availability, the government has imposed a 400-tonne stock limit on sugar dealers, limited bulk consumers to 15 days of consumption, ordered physical verification of sugar stocks, allowed duty-free imports of 1 million tonnes of raw sugar, and advised sugar mills to begin crushing from October 15.

Gaikwad said the 1-million-tonne import is not much. “After January, when the mills stop, people will calculate that we need around 300 lakh tonnes but production was only around 275 lakh tonnes. So traders will speculate. Prices could rise again after the season ends,” Gaikwad explained. “There is a psychological benefit to starting the factories early: people feel that the factories have started and sugar will be produced every day. But the amount and quantity of sugar produced will still be lower. Next year, I think we may have to import more than 20 to 30 lakh tonnes. There is no other way.”

Staples stay costly

The retail price of rice has risen every September since 2015 except in 2025. The 2026 price of Rs 46.1 per kg is 7.7% above 2025.

This is even as rice production rose 2.6%, from 150.2 million tonnes in 2024-25 to 154 million tonnes in 2025-26, as agriculture ministry data show. Central rice stock also rose 3.1%, from 37.6 million tonnes in September 2025 to 38.8 million tonnes last month, according to Food Corporation of India data. With a weak monsoon this year, kharif rice sowing is down 16% from last year, estimates show.

All five edible oils cost more in September 2026 than a year earlier, and each was at its highest September price since 2019.

On September 24, the government said a sharp increase in international edible oil prices had raised the landed cost of imported oils and domestic retail prices. It cut the basic customs duty on crude sunflower oil to zero and on crude soybean and palm oil to 5% to lower domestic prices.

India meets only 44% of its domestic demand for edible oil and spends more than $20 billion a year on imports, as ISignal explained in June 2026.

Vijay Jadhav is a journalist at ISignal.

This article first appeared on ISignal, a data-driven and public-interest journalism non-profit.

At least three first information reports were filed against Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi for allegedly assaulting police personnel and obstructing them during the INDIA bloc’s protest against the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi has also been named in the FIRs.

The two MPs have been booked under sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita pertaining to assault on police personnel, obstruction of government work, pushing and manhandling, and misbehaviour with police personnel. Read on.

Opposition MPs held a brief protest at Delhi’s Raj Ghat, the memorial dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, demanding the resignation of Kumar. This was the third consecutive day of the INDIA bloc holding demonstrations in the national capital.

Protests are being held in several parts of the country calling for Kumar to resign over concerns about the functioning of the Election Commission and its handling of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls. Read on.

The Congress alleged that the Election Commission’s online portal for voter registration and related services was designed to “centralise all deletions and additions from the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters”. The allegation came after a report said that a security researcher had in July flagged vulnerabilities in the poll panel’s voter services website and ECINET platform to the Election Commission and the country’s cyber-security agency, CERT-In.

The researcher, Nisarga Adhikary, had warned that the flaws could expose election officials’ contact details and allow attackers to access or forge data on the application. He emailed CERT-In on July 8, copying the Election Commission’s complaints web address.

CERT-In replied to Adhikary saying that one vulnerability had been fixed and work on the others was “under progress”. Read on.

The stock market fell by 1.4% to a 32-month low amid tighter monetary conditions, increasing global oil prices and continued outflow of foreign funds. The benchmark Sensex index fell by more than 1,040 points to 71,500. The index was at 75,000 during this time last month. The Nifty 50 fell by 371 points to 22,200, an 18-month low.

Investors lost more than Rs 10 lakh crore during the day. The India VIX index, which measures volatility in the market, spiked 10%. Read on.

The 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Canadian poet, essayist and translator Anne Carson “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature”. The 76-year-old is the second writer from Canada to win the award after Alice Munro in 2013.

The prestigious award, bestowed by 18 judges who make up the Swedish Academy, honours a writer’s entire body of work and is worth 12 million Swedish kronor, or Rs 11.6 crore. Read on.

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Opposition MPs on Thursday held a protest at Delhi’s Raj Ghat demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The legislators of the INDIA bloc travelled to the memorial dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi after a lunch hosted by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge. This was the second consecutive day of the alliance launching a surprise protest and the third day of holding demonstrations in the national capital.

On Wednesday, the Opposition MPs arrived near Jantar Mantar, a designated protest site, to carry out a demonstration. The police detained several leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. They were released hours later.

On Tuesday, the Opposition MPs marched from Parliament towards the Election Commission headquarters. The police stopped the march on Parliament Street and briefly detained several leaders.

After their release, Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders entered the Akashvani Bhawan premises, which is located near the Election Commission headquarters, and held a sit-in protest. They remained there for several hours before being detained again.

Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, was detained three times in less than two days.

Demonstrations are being held in several parts of the country calling for Kumar to resign over concerns about the functioning of the Election Commission and its handling of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

LIVE: Opposition MP's Protest March Against Vote Chori | New Delhi https://t.co/Fy7ZxRx0a7

— Congress (@INCIndia) October 8, 2026

Also read: SIR explained: Why the voter role revision has become so controversial

At least three first information reports have been filed against Rahul Gandhi for allegedly assaulting police personnel and obstructing them during the protest on Wednesday. A day earlier, the police had registered another FIR against Gandhi, Vadra and other Opposition leaders for their alleged unauthorised entry into the Akashvani Bhawan.

A contentious exercise

Since the exercise began in June 2025, the SIR has faced questions about the manner and pace of its implementation, amid concerns that it could deny genuine electors their right to vote and shape election outcomes, as Scroll has reported.

In May, the Supreme Court upheld the legality of the exercise, but said that it does not mean that the Election Commission can decide on whether the person is an Indian citizen.

Despite this, Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states have cited the SIR to deny ration cards to those who have been eliminated from the rolls. In some cases, the police have denied permission for their passports to be renewed.

Edited by Sneha and Nachiket Deuskar.

Follow Scroll’s coverage of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls here.

Also read: Conflict of interest concerns follow CEC Gyanesh Kumar from Sambhal to the Supreme Court