Right To Protest Versus Police Powers: A Critical Analysis Of The CJP Protests And Police Accountability In India
Krishnanjali A S, LL.M (Corporate Law), SRM School of Law, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Tamil Nadu, India
ABSTRACT
Peaceful protest is a basic part of Indian democracy, but in practice it is often managed through police orders, barricades and detention. This article studies the 2026 protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which began over alleged irregularities in the NEET medical entrance examination and later widened to the revision of electoral rolls and the Chief Election Commissioner. It looks at how the right to assemble under Article 19(1) sits beside police powers under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023. The article argues that India’s main problem is not a lack of law. The problem is weak enforcement of existing limits: wide preventive powers, force used without clear proof of need, slow court responses and no independent check on the police. It ends with practical reforms. Facts are taken from news reports and a rights-group investigation, and many remain contested.
Keywords: Right to protest; Article 19; police accountability; use of force; Cockroach Janta Party; Jantar Mantar.
