Delhi volunteers use AI-assisted dashboard to bring detained protesters home

Getting detained protesters home takes more than locating them on a map. In New Delhi, Rajiv Choudhary has built an AI-assisted dashboard around a volunteer transport network to help people left far from protest sites. An October 18 Al Jazeera report describes software coordinating assistance—and volunteers providing the rides and reassurance.

The initiative, called Detainee Gharwapsi Yojana, grew from support work at an earlier protest called by the satirical Cockroach Janta Party. Choudhary initially helped organize supplies and volunteers. As demonstrations continued, he saw a need for more systematic assistance for people detained by police and later left to find their own way back from unfamiliar places.

When protests resumed on October 2, 2026, Choudhary built a digital system around that existing network using AI tools. It started with a simple spreadsheet. The demonstrations have centered on allegations of electoral fraud, with protesters demanding the resignation of India’s chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar.

Choudhary and his associate, journalist Meghnad, initially worked with a small group connecting detainees to transport, legal assistance and medical support. Choudhary says the network has since grown to more than 130 volunteers. Drivers and other volunteers offer their time and resources without charging the protesters they help.

From WhatsApp updates to rides home

The private dashboard combines AI-assisted data processing, live mapping and information from volunteers on the ground. Volunteers send police bus numbers and locations through WhatsApp. Those updates help the team track buses carrying detainees and coordinate assistance and transport for people left stranded. The operation joins digital information with people who can physically reach someone and drive them home.

Choudhary says the priority is helping minors, elderly people and women, especially first-time protesters. He describes a problem that continues after detention: people may struggle to contact friends or arrange transport when they are released far from the demonstration.

The whole aim behind the application was that I had to systemise things that are not systemised

Rajiv Choudhary, speaking to Al Jazeera

A familiar face on an unfamiliar road

One 19-year-old woman told Al Jazeera that police detained her during a demonstration and took her, with other protesters, about 50km from the protest site. She had no cash and her phone battery was drained. She spent nearly an hour walking along a dark road before a car carrying volunteers stopped to offer help.

She recognized one volunteer from online videos in which he had offered help to detained protesters. That familiar face reassured her that she could trust the people offering the ride. The woman, who requested anonymity because she feared further reprisals from authorities, said the team also provided reassurance and emotional support.

Choudhary recalled another distress call from a woman released on the city’s outskirts near a railway station. Metro services were shut, and she was frightened and unsure how to get home. After she contacted the network, he arranged for a nearby female driver to collect her and take her home safely.

For now, the initiative operates only in New Delhi. Choudhary says he plans to take it to other cities. That remains an expansion plan; the operating network described in the October 18 account serves the capital.