Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), and two other senior leaders were released by court order on Sunday. Their release comes as Delhi anticipates a second day of youth protests.
Dipke and the other leaders were detained on Saturday when their plane landed in Delhi. The CJP had planned to gather thousands of people at Jantar Mantar in central Delhi.
The protests are calling for the resignation of India’s chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar. Critics argue that a revision of voter lists disproportionately benefits Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Indian authorities reportedly detained over 2,000 people on Saturday to prevent protests. Most of those detained on the first day were released on Saturday night, according to police. The UN human rights office has expressed concerns over mass detentions, while India’s foreign ministry called the UN’s statement an “unwarranted interference”.