3 min readHyderabadJul 22, 2026 08:04 PM IST
Actor Ayesha Khan was detained by the Mumbai Police on Wednesday, July 22, while trying to participate in a protest held in solidarity with the students demanding educational reforms. The protest launched by the Cockraoch Janata Party (CJP) started in Delhi but has now spread across many cities.
Ayesha, who became widely known after appearing in the song ‘Shararat’ from the film Dhurandhar, shared a series of videos from the police van and later from Worli Police Station in Mumbai, alleging that she was taken despite not having said a word or raising any slogans.
In videos posted on her Instagram Stories, Ayesha Khan appeared visibly shaken. She said she had arrived at the protest venue at around 4 pm to show solidarity and was standing on the roadside with two female friends after her brother and male friends were taken into a police van. According to her, the group had not begun protesting. They had not raised slogans. They had not displayed placards. They were simply standing on the road.
Ayesha shared a video where it was seen that she was being pulled inside a police van as she continued to ask why she was being detained.
Also Read: ‘Cowards’: Seema Pahwa, Ratna Pathak Shah cry, slam Bollywood for not supporting CJP protests
“My hands are literally shivering right now. I’ve been detained in the police van just for standing on the road peacefully. I didn’t say a word. I didn’t even start the protest. I was just standing because my brother, my male friends were detained and we were just standing on the road. Me and two of my other female friends,” she said.
Ayesha Khan said approximately 15 police personnel, including women officers, surrounded her and the two friends and asked them to get into the police van. She said she repeatedly asked why they were being detained and received no answer. “I kept asking why we were being detained. We were just standing on the road. We hadn’t even started protesting. Nobody answered us,” she said.
In a separate clip, Ayesha Khan was heard asking officers where they were taking the detained individuals. In another, she requested officers not to push her while she was being escorted. She alleged that she and her friends were forcibly taken to Worli Police Station.
Ayesha Khan said the officers at the police station spoke to them politely, but she questioned the conduct of the personnel at the protest site. She alleged that she and her friends were pushed during the detention and asked what law they had broken. She also claimed that only three of them were standing together and questioned why they were detained when, according to her, the restrictions being cited by the police had not yet come into effect.
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Many celebrities across the country, including Shabana Azmi, Prakash Raj, Amol Parasher have been attending the CJP protests in Delhi. Several others, including Ratna Pathak Shah, Seema Pahwa, Naseeruddin Shah, among others, have been speaking up about the students’ right to protest.
