Neha Bora calls BJP, Delhi Police's bluff; dares them to define 'breach of peace'

AISA president clarifies her Bangladesh remark, recounts her detention and challenges the state to define 'breach of peace'

AISA president Neha Bora alleges that a doctored video distorted her remarks on Bangladesh's student-led regime-change movement.

Bora challenges the Delhi Police notice requiring her to sign a Rs 10,000 surety bond, questioning the definition of "breach of peace" and alleging state repression of peaceful protesters.

Bora recounts her detention on 10 October, alleging mistreatment, denial of legal access and pressure to sign the bond before her release.

In two separate interviews, Neha Bora explained that she had recorded a video statement to be played at a convention of socialist students in Bangladesh. BJP leaders, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and sections of the mainstream media criticised her remarks, alleging that she had expressed support for the 'regime change' movement led by Bangladeshi students. Bora claimed that a truncated and doctored version of the video had been circulated to distort her statement.

Bora recalled congratulating Bangladesh's progressive students for resisting what she described as an oppressive regime and the Jihadis, and for successfully overthrowing Sheikh Hasina's government. The right wing in Bangladesh objected to her speech, particularly her description of Islamists as Jihadis. Ironically, she said, the right wing in India used the same video address to malign her, alleging that she drew inspiration from Bangladesh's right wing.

She blamed the BJP and the media for portraying Bangladesh as an object of hatred. Indian propaganda, she argued, had created such fear that even the mere mention of 'Bangladesh' made people feel threatened.

She challenged the Delhi Police and the state to define 'breach of peace', the grounds on which she has been asked to sign a bond undertaking not to disturb the peace and furnish a personal surety of Rs 10,000. She has challenged the notice in the Delhi High Court, which is expected to deliver its order at 6 pm on Friday, 23 October 2026.

.Neha Bora moves Delhi HC against police notice to execute 'peace' bond. Bora stressed that it was the Delhi Police and the Indian state, not the protesters, that had resorted to violence. She alleged that the government had cancelled 245 trains at 24 hours' notice, shut down Metro stations in Delhi, deployed 40,000 security personnel, assaulted protesters and arrested CJP leader Abhijeet Dipke and his colleagues. "What violence had Abhijeet instigated?" she asked, pointing out that he had been taken into custody moments after stepping out of his home with the national flag. She questioned how the authorities defined 'violence'.

Bora insisted that the protesters had committed no acts of violence. They had raised slogans against the disenfranchisement of citizens by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. "Is that violence?" she asked.

She alleged that armed miscreants associated with Hindutva outfits had attacked young protesters, including women, in the presence of Delhi Police. According to Bora, the protesters had not retaliated against those who abused, heckled, insulted and mocked them or physically assaulted them when they got the opportunity.

Bora maintained that carrying the national flag, marching peacefully on the streets and holding street-corner meetings were people's rights. She accused the government of attempting to curtail these freedoms out of fear.

Defending her decision to move the Delhi High Court against the notice requiring her and other protesters to sign a peace bond, Bora said it was time for the courts to uphold civil liberties or confirm that the country was indeed under an unwritten state of Emergency.

Bora also gave a detailed account of her detention at Mandi House on 10 October. She said she had neither called for a 'Tiranga March' nor violated any prohibitory orders, as none were in force at Mandi House. She had gone there to participate in a peaceful protest when policemen and policewomen in plain clothes and masks, posing as protesters, formed a human chain around her. They isolated her, claiming that they were shielding her. She said it was only later that she realised she had been deceived and recognised them as police personnel in civilian clothes.

Bora said she was first taken to Palam, where she was subjected to a body search that was recorded. "They touched me everywhere, and when I objected to a male police officer recording it, a policewoman took out her mobile phone to record it," she recalled.

She repeatedly objected to her detention, arguing that the police could not detain her after sundown. She insisted that, if she was under arrest, the police should show her the warrant and inform her of the legal provisions under which she was being arrested. She also demanded access to her lawyers. None of her requests was heeded until well past midnight, when one of her lawyers was allowed to meet her for just two minutes in the presence of the police.

Bora, who was detained at 5 pm on 10 October, was released at 5 am the following day. She said the police had insisted throughout the night that she sign the bond before she could be released, but she refused. The next day, a notice asking her to sign the bond was delivered to her residence. She also claimed that Delhi Police had kept her under surveillance and followed her wherever she went.

"You are accusing someone of violence who had fasted for three weeks at Jantar Mantar," she said, arguing that someone who had undertaken such a prolonged fast should not be accused of violence.