CPM Rajya Sabha Leader John Brittas Says CRPF Men Manhandled Him Inside a Van

John Brittas, leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, in the Rajya Sabha, told Open that he was arrested today by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel who dragged him away from amidst journalists in Delhi’s Connaught Place where he was speaking to them about the latest Supreme Court verdict about the ongoing protests.

“I was taken away and then several CRPF men (who can easily be identified from videos) started pressing me against my seat causing massive suffocation. They continued doing that until I was at a point of total breathlessness. It was then that I got a call from DCP Sachin (Sharma) who apparently saw the video of my arrest somewhere,” said Brittas, who is also a member of the CPM Central Committee.

He emphasised that “a young man from Jharkhand, who was also detained in the van by the forces, helped me pick up the phone.” Sharma is the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) for the New Delhi district.

Brittas then handed the phone, as instructed by Sachin Sharma, to the CRPF men, who asked them to release the member of Parliament. “He warned them that they would be in trouble if they didn’t release me immediately.

By then I was in pretty bad shape physically because of their manhandling,” Brittas told Open, adding that they used force on him despite his showing them his ID card repeatedly before, during and after the televised arrest.

In a special sitting on Sunday, the Supreme Court had said that there shall be no action or detention of peaceful and unarmed people beyond the area where Section 163 BNSS prohibitory orders were in operation.

A bench of Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana had also directed the authorities to take down the board concerning the imposition of Section 163 of BNSS in the area around the Supreme Court.

It also ordered a review of barricades, factoring in law and order and traffic conditions.

Brittas said he was talking to reporters about the verdict when he was forcibly taken away by the forces, an incident captured by TV channels recording his interview.

The 60-year-old is now back home but said that he is still feeling unwell and has been advised to seek medical treatment. He had been detained for eight hours on October 10 by the Delhi Police along with former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and former minister and lawmaker KN Balagopal.

Central Delhi has seen a massive deployment of forces since the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) called for a protest demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the reported division within the poll panel, with two members questioning the authoritarian ways of Kumar.

The opposition and the agitating youth led by CJP and Leftist student organisations such as SFI, AISF, AISA and others are also outraged by what they describe as a blatant “lie” by the ECI that the modified Form 6, meaning the new declaration attached to Form 6, was approved by the Supreme Court’s May 2026 judgement on Bihar SIR.

The court, however, has clearly stated that it did not approve it.

After his release, Brittas said, he was taken to safety in an auto by the Jharkhand resident. The national capital is under a siege of sorts for a second day in the face of the youth-led protest call for Kumar’s resignation.