Gurgaon/Noida: Opposition functionaries across NCR alleged on Friday that police had confined them to their homes or deployed personnel outside to prevent them from joining Saturday’s proposed CJP protest at Jantar Mantar.In Gurgaon, Congress’s rural district president Vardhan Yadav claimed 10-12 police personnel, including a station house officer (SHO), were stationed at his home since morning. Similar allegations came from SP functionaries and farmer leaders in Noida, and Congress and AAP leaders in Ghaziabad. Police did not respond to requests for comment on the alleged house arrests.Yadav alleged that police were preventing Congress workers from travelling to Delhi to protest against the Election Commission of India (ECI) and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. He claimed cops had also been deployed outside the homes of senior Congress functionaries Harinder Sarawat, Mandeep Rathi, Shiv Bokan, Sachin Baisoya and Nitin Yadav.“Police have taken our phones and are not allowing us to leave the house,” Yadav said. He alleged that youth Congress workers were also being tracked and confined to their homes or workplaces. Shiv, associated with National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), was allegedly traced by police to his college in Gurgaon, he said.Yadav accused the govt of trying to suppress dissent, saying peaceful protest was a constitutional right. The allegations came amid opposition parties’ campaign against the ECI over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. They have demanded Kumar’s resignation, alleging irregularities in the exercise and deletion of eligible voters’ names.In Noida, police teams allegedly visited the homes of several SP functionaries, including Tanveer Hussain, Devpal, Munna Alam, Manoj Prajapati, Ganesh Kumar and Sanjeev. Senior Congress functionary Shahabuddin was also placed under house arrest, sources said.SP metropolitan president Ashray Gupta questioned the alleged restrictions, saying no written order had been shown to the party leaders. Functionaries termed the action unjustified and questioned the legal basis for restricting their movement ahead of the protest.At the Chilla and Kalindi Kunj borders, police from Noida and Delhi checked vehicles headed towards the capital. Vehicles were allowed to proceed after scrutiny as security was tightened ahead of Saturday’s demonstration.Farmer organisations also alleged police deployment outside their leaders’ homes, despite no protest call from them in Noida or elsewhere in the district. Kisan Sabha district president Rupesh Verma said personnel had been stationed outside his home and those of Soran Pradhan, national president of Kisan Ekta Sangh, and Sukhbir Khalifa, national president of Kisan Parishad, since Friday morning.Pradhan and Khalifa questioned the alleged restrictions, saying they interfered with citizens’ rights to freedom and privacy. Sachin, national general secretary of Kisan Parishad, said the organisation was filing a writ petition in the high court over the alleged violation of fundamental rights.In Ghaziabad, Congress leader Bijendra Yadav was among those whose homes police teams allegedly visited. He, however, was not present then. Congress member Lokesh Chaudhary and AAP’s Akash were also named in reports of preventive action. Functionaries in Loni, Modinagar and Sahibabad were reportedly being monitored, with around 250 people said to be under police watch in the district.An 18-year-old student, Arjun Sharma, who had raised concerns about alleged irregularities in CBSE’s on-screen marking system, was also detained by UP Police in Ghaziabad. According to information shared about his detention, Sharma had not called for a protest on Oct 10. An undertaking was also taken from him, and he was said to have been placed under house arrest until Sunday. The legal grounds for the action were not immediately clear.
