Cornered govt to release Anna from Tihar after public backlash

Protests all over India brought the UPA government to its knees on Tuesday night, forcing a decision to release social activist Anna Hazare barely hours after he had been sent to Tihar Jail for seven days.

Anna Hazare and some of his close associates were arrested earlier in the day after they made it clear they would defy all prohibitory orders and carry on an indefinite fast demanding a strong Lokpal Bill.

The 73-year-old Gandhian was picked up at 7.30 am from a flat where he was staying in Mayur Vihar in East Delhi after he refused to be persuaded by Delhi Police officials against the fast, in violation of prohibitory orders that were imposed last night.

Anna Hazare had even refused food in Tihar, indicating he would carry on his fast in jail.

Hazare and his aides including, Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal, were first taken to the Delhi Police Officers' Mess in North Delhi and were shifted to another after Hazare's supporters gathered in large numbers at Civil Lines.

Nearly 1,400 activists were detained in various parts of the city when they came out in support of Hazare, who had planned to launch the fast at Jai Prakash Narain Park near Ferozeshah Kotla.

The social activist, who is campaigning for a legislation that will cover the Prime Minister, higher judiciary and MPs' conduct within Parliament among other things, was later taken to Rajouri Garden police station in West Delhi where a Special Executive Magistrate remanded him to 7 days judicial custody.


The decision to remand him came after Hazare refused to sign a personal bond undertaking he will not defy prohibitory orders to hold protests.

Kiran Bedi was, however, released from custody though she too had refused to sign a personal bond.

Hazare was taken to Jail No 4 in Tihar Central Prison where he will be lodged for the next seven days. His associates including, Kejriwal and Manoj Sisodia, were lodged in Jail No 1. Noted lawyer Shanti Bhushan was also among those arrested.

Hundreds of supporters gathered outside Tihar after Hazare and his associates were taken inside the prison.

Shortly after Hazare's arrest, his campaigner Prashant Bhushan announced a series of agitational programmes, including a march from India Gate to Parliament tomorrow evening and protests by supporters on Delhi streets.

He also called upon government employees to go on mass leave tomorrow to show solidarity with Hazare.

Parliament was disrupted by Opposition parties which said Hazare's arrest amounted to the “murder of democracy” and was a throwback to the days of the Emergency. Home Minister P Chidambaram rejected this charge asserting anyone saying he would defy prohibitory orders was unacceptable in a democracy.

Chidambaram said Hazare was arrested under Sections 107 and 151 of the CrPC because Delhi Police felt he could commit a cognizable offence.

He said Lokpal was not a panacea for all the corruption that existed in the country. The government was taking a five-pronged action to tackle it but it would still exist, Chidambaram said. It is a battle that would be fought on various fronts and no one can tell the government it would be either “my Bill or no Bill”, he added.

Gupta said the Gandhian had refused to give an undertaking that he would not defy prohibitory orders. He said the Delhi Police was ready to release Hazare on a personal bond if he gave the undertaking.

Delhi Police chief B K Gupta said they had initially suggested Hazare hold his protest at Sadbhavana Park which has a capacity to accommodate around 15,000 to 20,000 people.

“According to our intelligence, 15,000 to 20,000 people were to gather for the protest and we suggested he stage his protest there but the Delhi High Court have banned all protests at this spot. It was then that we suggested Jai Prakash Narain Park,” he said.

He said the CPWD, the agency which owns the park, noted it could not provide the facility for more than one or two days. Police then intervened and got permission for three days, he said.

“Normally, indefinite protests are not allowed in JP Park. The CPWD also cited a High Court order in this regard. We had to reject their application as they refused to give an undertaking.

“When they announced they would go ahead with their protest, we imposed Section 144. There was a chance for people assembling there. Also, we had the Rajghat episode in mind where within a few hours, more than 1,000 people gathered yesterday after Hazare went there,” he said.

Gupta said they anticipated “similar surprise elements” at JP Park and decided to impose Section 144 and senior officials went to meet Hazare this morning to convince him that he should not go ahead with his plans. “Hazare told us that he will go ahead. Then we had to tell him that he will have to court arrest,” he said.

Hazare was first taken to a police facility in north Delhi's Civil Lines from where he was shifted to DCP Office in west Delhi's Rajouri Garden after a large number of people started arriving there to protest.

“So many protestors assembled there that we moved him out,” Gupta said.

The police tried to persuade Hazare to call off his programmes but the ninety-minute exercise did not move him as he stood firm by his plans to defy prohibitory orders, leading to his charged-up supporters trying to prevent his detention.

Chants of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' and 'Vande Mataram' rented the air as tricolour waving supporters almost made a human wall around the vehicle carrying the Gandhian to a police facility.

At the stroke of 7.30 am, police informed the Gandhian that they were taking him into custody as their efforts to convince him had failed and the khadi-clad Gandhian came out of the flat in Mayur Vihar after instructing his aides to release his prerecorded message.

Delhi Police had denied permission for his fast after Hazare's broad anti-corruption forum India Against Corruption refused to abide by all 22 conditions set for the agitation.

The Hazare team hit out at the government for the police action with the Gandhian describing his detention as the beginning of the “second freedom struggle”. He asked people not to let the agitation against corruption fizzle out and urged them to fill jails while his team termed the police action as a “return of Emergency”.

“My dear countrymen, the second freedom struggle has begun and I have also been arrested. But will this movement be stopped by my arrest? No, not at all. Don't let it happen,” Hazare said in a prerecorded message.

The Hazare team described the detention as the “return of Emergency without a formal proclamation” and asked what crime the Gandhian had committed to take him into custody.

“This is the return of Emergency without official proclamation. What crime did Anna commit? Unless we unite, we will be imposed with a defective Lokpal which protects corruption. We now need solutions not statements of intentions,” Bedi said.

Hazare, aides in Tihar

Director General of Tihar Prison Neeraj Kumar said Hazare along with his three supporters were in the new admission ward of Jail 4 while Kejriwal, a former IRS officer, and three others were kept in Jail 1.

“They are kept in new admission ward segregated from others. They are safe and secure,” Kumar told reporters here, adding, “We have made all arrangements for his security and he has been kept segregated from other prisoners. We are dedicated to his security.”

“I would like to further clarify that what is being shown on some of the channels that they are being kept with Kalmadi is totally false.

“They are in the wards which are far away from the wards of Kalmadi. His (Hazare's) health will be monitored by doctors present in our jails. Our future course of action will depend on his health condition,” the Director General said.

Hazare is in Jail 4 which houses 2,231 prisoners including CWG scam accused Suresh Kalmadi and Kalaignar TV Managing Director Sharad Kumar, who is in judicial custody for the 2G scam. Hazare is with his associates Radheyshyam Prajapati, Suresh Pathare and Manish Sisodia in the new admission cell of the jail.

Kejriwal had been lodged with Navin Jaisingh, Dada Pathare and Darshak in Jail 1 where former Telecom Minister A Raja and managing director of D B Realty Shahid Balwa, both accused in the 2G case, are among the 1,543 prisoners.

Jail officials said Hazare had water and all eight were found to be fit during the routine medical examination.