New Delhi
A woman hurled blue ink at Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke as he announced his indefinite hunger strike at Jantar Mantar on Saturday, but he remained unfazed, saying, "Blue is my colour, Jai Bhim," while appealing to his supporters to remain calm.
The incident occurred while Dipke was addressing supporters and announcing the start of his indefinite hunger strike, hours after activist Sonam Wangchuk was taken forcibly to Safdarjung Hospital by the Delhi Police on the 21st day of his hunger strike.
The woman, identified by the police as Barkha Trehan, walked towards Dipke during his address and hurled blue ink at him, briefly disrupting the programme before volunteers and supporters restrained her.
As some supporters rushed towards the stage, Dipke repeatedly appealed to them to remain seated and not get agitated.
"Blue is my colour. Jai Bhim," Dipke said after the incident.
Police escorted Trehan away from the venue. As she was being taken away, she alleged that she had been assaulted and raised religious slogans.
Trehan describes herself on X as a men's rights activist and president of "Purush Aayog".
While the motive behind the attack was not immediately clear, she had made allegations against male leaders of the CJP in a social media post on Friday.
Her recent social media activity also shows her participating in protests at Jantar Mantar, including one in support of former BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar. She had also posted about the Siya Goyal case. In June, she shared photographs from an event marking 12 years of the Modi government, saying she had interacted with several senior BJP leaders.
Police said Trehan has been detained and further investigation is underway.
Hours after the incident and traces of blue ink still visible on his hands, Dipke in a video message on X said that the CJP would continue its protest despite Wangchuk being taken to hospital.
"Delhi Police is planning to crackdown on our protest during night or early hours of morning - silencing the voice of youth. We request everyone to join us for night vigil at Jantar Mantar, so that together we can march to Sansad on July 20," he posted on X.
Dipke's announcement came amid continued protests at Jantar Mantar, with AISA activists Neha, Aameen and Manish also carrying on with their hunger strike after Wangchuk's hospitalisation.
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Wangchuk had been on an indefinite hunger strike since June 28 in support of the CJP-led protest over alleged irregularities in the NEET examination and the reported deaths of students linked to the controversy.