As thousands of protesters were detained across Delhi during the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) agitation over two days, volunteers, doctors, lawyers and social media influencers have mobilised to provide medical assistance, legal aid and other support to demonstrators and their families.
According to a PTI report, the assistance is being offered by individuals as well as coordinated volunteer groups, which are amplifying appeals on social media to connect detainees and their families with relevant resources.
A CJP volunteer said in a social media post that more than 130 people were now working on a protest support initiative following a meeting of volunteers who had helped demonstrators during Saturday's agitation.
"We have about 130-plus people working on this initiative now. So I thought it was time to just turn it into a thing," the volunteer said in a video outlining plans to bring different support groups together, PTI reported.
According to the volunteer, the initiative includes a "Detainee Ghar Wapsi Yojana", which aims to arrange transport and supplies for people returning home after being released from custody. Another component, the Immediate Response First Aid Network (IRFAN), brings together doctors and volunteers to assist injured protesters.
A further initiative, called PAUSE, or People Are Under Systemic Exhaustion, seeks to connect people experiencing trauma and exhaustion with therapists offering mental health support, PTI reported.
The volunteer also announced plans to establish a scouting team to gather information from the ground, a creator network to keep journalists and others updated on developments at different locations, and an information network to collect updates and share them with those who need them.
A legal aid network is also being set up to connect detained protesters and their families with lawyers.
"The lawyers, we need you," the volunteer said, appealing to more legal professionals to join the initiative.
The group is also working to bring together people who have launched similar efforts independently. Plans are under way to establish a central command and designate points of contact for each initiative to coordinate assistance, according to the volunteer.
The network's reach has extended beyond the protest site to the wider Delhi-NCR region, as detainees are being moved to different locations, including stadiums and hospitals, the volunteer said.
"We are going to be more efficient so that wherever you are, we are there," the volunteer said, adding that the group would do its best to ensure protesters received support.
Alongside these organised efforts, individual social media users have also offered assistance. One user identifying themselves as a doctor said they wanted to help injured protesters and would be available near Gurdwara Bangla Sahib.
Other volunteers and legal professionals have shared their contact details for circulation among protesters and their families. Instagram has emerged as a key platform for coordinating assistance, PTI reported.
The efforts come amid a large-scale security deployment in the national capital. Delhi Police prevented demonstrators from reaching Jantar Mantar on Saturday, where the proposed gathering had been denied permission.
More than 30,000 police and paramilitary personnel were deployed across Delhi as part of the security arrangements. CJP leaders, including Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, were detained shortly after landing in the city on Saturday, while more than 7,000 protesters were detained at multiple locations.
Several opposition leaders, including former chief ministers Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee, Pinarayi Vijayan and Manik Sarkar, were also detained while attempting to join the protest.
The CJP and opposition parties have been demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the functioning of the Election Commission and the conduct of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
(With inputs from PTI)
