A New Delhi court ordered the release of Dipke and two other senior leaders, their lawyer said, a day after police detained them ahead of a planned demonstration. Police pulled Dipke off a flight in Delhi as he shouted, “We're not afraid of you,” and detained hundreds of protesters while security forces blocked gatherings in parts of the capital.
The protests center on a revision of electoral rolls that removed 130 million names during a verification exercise covering nearly one billion voters. Opposition parties allege the changes unfairly benefited Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. The Election Commission and BJP deny wrongdoing, and election officials say the revisions remove duplicate, deceased and ineligible voters.