When Delhi cops played catch-up with protesters

AISA leader Neha Bora and several participants faced detention as police intervened, triggering a chaotic chase

NEW DELHI: A chase through central Delhi ended in the detention of All India Students' Association (AISA) president Neha Bora, along with others, Sunday afternoon, as protesters renewed their attempt to march towards Jantar Mantar to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.Bora was detained around 3pm after running towards Connaught Place with police personnel pursuing her and other demonstrators. The sequence began around 2.30pm, when protesters started gathering near RK Ashram Marg Metro station following her call to continue the agitation.A large contingent of police personnel moved towards the gathering, attempting to stop the march and taking several participants into custody.As police closed in, Bora was seen running towards CP, with several protesters following her past barricades as they then attempted to proceed towards Jantar Mantar. At 2.51 pm, Bora posted: "We have crossed the barricades and reached CP."Police personnel pursued the demonstrators through the streets before intercepting and detaining them. Cops were seen holding them by their arms and legs while dragging and carrying them towards waiting buses even as they kept struggling and resisting.

In a video posted on X after her detention, Bora alleged that agitators were being held in cramped compartments inside a police bus. "These are the buses they are taking us in. This bus has four cells," she said. "There is no space to breathe."She claimed the windows had glass behind metal grilles and that several women were confined together in a small compartment. She also alleged that male protesters had been verbally abused and kicked in their private parts.

Questioning the conditions in which they were being transported, she likened the compartments to jail cells and accused police of using excessive force.The attempted march followed a series of appeals by Bora to sustain the protests despite police curbs. Earlier Sunday, she had written on social media: "When those sworn to protect the Constitution look away, people must remind them what it demands. We cannot let this become normal.

The fight for democracy continues, and we will not look away."Her call for Sunday's gathering followed a late-night post urging supporters to continue demonstrating despite Saturday's detentions."Let a hundred Jantar Mantars bloom! Another part of Delhi will become Jantar Mantar tomorrow," she wrote. Also Saturday, Bora had urged those unable to reach Jantar Mantar to regroup near Dilli Haat. They assembled in INA area, where police detained her and others.