Jaipur: The five men who were arrested on Monday (June 15) for allegedly assaulting Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke in Jaipur were given a rousing welcome and garlanded on Tuesday (June 16) upon their release on bail.In videos which were shared by the accused themselves on social media, a large group of people can be seen garlanding and welcoming them outside the Vidhayakpuri police station in Jaipur, amid chants of Jai Shri Ram, Inquilab Zindabad and Bharat Mata ki Jai.Earlier, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) south Rajarshi Raj had said in a statement on June 15 that the police arrested five people – Rohit Sharma, 25, Rakesh Gurjar, 30, Ajay Sharma, 25, Kuldeep Singh Shekhawat, 27, and Niket, 25 – under section 170 (Arrest to prevent commission of cognisable offences) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).Advocate Basant Parik, who represented some of the accused, told The Wire that all five men were granted bail by the executive magistrate, Jaipur South.In videos which were widely circulated on social media, Dipke could be seen being assaulted during the June 15 protest of the CJP at the Shaheed Smarak in Jaipur.As the police took away Rakesh Gurjar – one of the five accused – after the incident, he told reporters that “he is a nationalist from Jaipur”, and called Dipke a person with a “Jihadi mentality” and had accused the CJP founder of brainwashing people over the issue of question paper leak, which he termed an “excuse”.After his release on Tuesday, Gurjar posted a video on Facebook where he is seen smiling after his release on bail and chanting the slogan of Bharat Mata ki jai. In the video, the crowd garlands him while chanting Jai Shri Ram and Hindu ekta Zindabad.Rohit, another accused, also shared the same video on Facebook and captioned it with “Jai Shri Ram”.Kuldeep Singh Shekhawat, who was also among those arrested, shared a reel of him being garlanded along with the other accused and captioned it “hum rashtrawadi hain (we are nationalists).Shekhawat’s Facebook profile has posts by him criticising the CJP and in support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its leaders including prime minister Narendra Modi, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.Speaking to The Wire, Gurjar confirmed his association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).“During the protest, I was first manhandled and thereafter when I saw Dipke enter the protest site, I thought of hitting the main cockroach of America. How can people who raise slogans in support of Umar Khalid be right? I am not associated with any political party. I have done the prathamik varsh training of the RSS around four-five years back. After that I distanced myself and because of my busy personal life,” Gurjar told The Wire.However, despite Gurjar’s claim that he has distanced himself from the RSS, several social media users shared photos of him in the RSS’s uniform as late as October last year.After he was assaulted, Dipke had written on X that physical attacks are a sign of fear and cowardice.“We will continue to raise our voices peacefully. I am a follower of Gandhi and Ambedkar, and I will keep fighting this battle with peace and love. PS: Dharmendra Pradhan must resign!” Dipke had said.CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka accused the BJP of trying to derail the movement that seeks the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the issue of question paper leaks.“The fact is that the movement has garnered incredible support all over the country, as the massive gatherings indicate. Jaipur saw one of the biggest crowds. The BJP is rattled by the enormous support that the movement has garnered not only on social media but also on the ground. Taking advantage of unemployed youth, the BJP is getting some of these brainwashed people to come and attack us,” Ranka told The Wire.He cited the example of Gurjar and said that he has links with the RSS and BJP.“This is a planned conspiracy to delegitimise a genuine movement, incite violence and create unpleasant situations but they will not succeed,” said Ranka.After the videos of the accused being garlanded went viral, some social media users pointed out the similarities between the incident and the visuals from 2022, when the men convicted of raping Bilkis Bano during the 2002 Gujarat riots were garlanded.