New Delhi: A Delhi court on November 27 sent four persons to two-day police custody and another 13 individuals to judicial custody for a day in connection with a protest at India Gate that turned violent on November 23.
The protest called against rising pollution levels in the capital city turned violent with protestors allegedly attacking police personnel with pepper spray and raising slogans in support of recently killed Maoist leader Madvi Hidma.
A number of police personnel were attacked allegedly with chilli spray during the protest on Sunday evening after the police tried clearing the area, citing section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita.
The police on Thursday informed the court that they are probing Naxal links as the protestors, mostly students raised slogans in support of the Naxalites.
A case was registered against 17 people at the Parliament Street police station. The police during the hearing sought seven-day police custody for 4 of the 17 accused while it requested the court to extend the judicial custody of others.
According to media reports, the police while alleging that the accused were Naxalites and supporting the banned group in Jharkhand referred to a purported video on X where one of the accused could be seen participating in the 50th anniversary of Radical Students Union, a banned leftist organisation.
The police also informed to have recover pepper sprays and chilli powder from the accused. It further alleged that the accused didn’t disclose their personal details and gave wrong addresses. The police also claimed to have CCTV footage of protestors hitting the personnel.
At least 22 people have been so far arrested in connection with the case on the basis of two separate FIRs registered by the police at Parliament Street police station and Kartavya Path police station.
Among those named in the FIR are students of the Delhi University associated with two outfits namely the Bhagat Singh Chatra Ekta Manch (BSCEM) and Himkhand.
A protest called against rising air pollution turned violent on Sunday evening after the police asked the protestors to vacate the spot citing section 163 of the BNS.
The protestors who were sloganeering and carrying banners, though intensified their protest and started moving closer to the India Gate monument, as per the FIR.
According to the officials deployed at the site, the protestors started raising slogans in support of Maoist commander Madvi Hidma who was recently gunned down in an encounter with the police in Andhra Pradesh.
According to this lady protesting in Delhi yesterday, air pollution is happening because of ‘profit-led development model’.
She wants it replaced with ‘people led development model practised by Maoists’.(Protest had posters lionising Maoist commander Hidma)
Delhi Police has… pic.twitter.com/WYp9fcEdCd— Padmaja Joshi (@PadmajaJoshi) November 24, 2025
Other groups such as the Scientist for Society (SFS) were also part of the demonstration. The SFS later claimed that two organisations Himkhand and BSCEM started shouting slogans related to Hidma.
Notably, BSCEM had also vandalized the walls of the Delhi University with graffiti prior to the general elections 2024. The group reportedly painted the walls with slogans like ‘Ek hi raasta Naxalbari,’ the place from where the Naxals traced their origin in Bharat and ‘Boycott elections, join new democracy’.
Delhi Police had registered two separate FIRs into the matter on the basis of a complaint from Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and later arrested the accused persons.
