When you cannot reach Jantar Mantar, you make Jantar Mantar where you are. That is what happened inside Delhi's sports stadiums on Saturday.
Police converted Chhatrasal Stadium and Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Bawana into temporary detention centres for over 500 people. Athletes continued practice as buses brought protesters. Inside, a pavilion tent served meals to police while detainees complained of no water till late evening, when a crowd of 500 forced authorities to arrange supplies.
The testimonies from inside reveal the sociology of mass detention. Journalists, law students, and passersby were among those picked up. Anmol Pritam of Newslaundry said, "While we were reporting, all journalists were detained. Four of us were picked up from New Delhi Railway Station." A guest lecturer from Delhi University said 12 of his law students were detained near Jantar Mantar and asked for full addresses and political affiliations.
Read more - Jantar Mantar: The New Forbidden Zone
A senior police officer's quote to relatives, "Nahin mil sakte, bilkul nahin mil sakte... Court se aadesh lao," captures the legal grey zone of preventive detention without formal arrest.
Yet, detention did not mean silence. Slogans of "Vote chor, gaddi chod" and "Inquilab Zindabad" rang out, audible outside. For Meera, 23, a stylist detained after reaching the site at 11 am, the moment was surreal. "Everyone has circled around and are chanting, 'Isko Jantar Mantar bana dete hain'," she recalled. A former Kannur University Vice-Chancellor reportedly held an impromptu lecture on democracy inside.
Read more - Power, Institution, and the Shadow of Doubt
The Indian model of handling dissent has shifted from lathi-charge at the site to spatial displacement. Take protesters 30 km away, cut internet with jammers, exhaust them, release by evening. It avoids clash but raises questions: is the right to assemble being managed or erased?
Tags: #ChhatrasalStadium #DetentionCentres #DelhiPolice #JantarMantar #VoteChor #ProtestRights #JournalistsDetained #AISA #Democracy #IndiaProtests