Hazare refuses to leave jail unless allowed to fast without conditions

Social activist Anna Hazare, who was arrested by the Delhi Police yesterday morning shortly before he was to begin an indefinite fast at the JP Park in the capital on the Lokpal issue, was freed late last night but he has refused to leave Tihar Jail unless he was allowed to stage his protest at the same venue without any conditions.

Mr Hazare's aide Manish Sisodia, who was among those arrested and freed yesterday, told mediapersons outside Tihar Jail that the veteran Gandhian would remain in jail unless the authorities gave him written permission to launch an indefinite fast at JP Park.

Mr Sisodia said some of Mr Hazare's colleagues in the agitation, such as senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Kiran Bedi and social activist Swami Agnivesh, were due to meet him in jail today.

According to Mr Sisodia, Mr Hazare spent the night in the room of one of the jail officials.

Meanwhile, Union Home Secretary R K Singh told reporters that Mr Hazare had already been released from jail and he was free to go anywhere. He said the police and jail officials would hold talks with him in an effort to persuade him to leave the jail.

Asked about Mr Hazare's insistence on continuing his fast at the JP Park, Mr Singh said that it was something that he would have to discuss with the Delhi Police officials.

Meanwhile, hundreds of his supporters had gathered outside Tihar Jail to express their solidarity with him.
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Mr Hazare was detained from outside the residence of lawyer Prashant Bhushan at Mayur Vihar at around 0730 hrs. yesterday after he told the police that he intended to go ahead with his fast despite the fact that the police had denied him permission to do so.

The authorities had denied him permission to hold the fast because he and his colleagues had refused to agree to some of the 22 conditions the police had laid down. These included a condition that the fast would be ended within three days and that not more than 5000 people would gather at the venue.

Mr Hazare and his colleagues were presented before a court which sent them to judicial custody for seven days. Late last night, the prison officials said Mr Hazare had been released, but he had refused to leave unless he was given unconditional permission to sit on an indefinite fast at JP Park as he had originally planned.

Mr Hazare's aides, who were amongst those freed, told mediapersons outside the jail that he and RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal were continuing their fast.

Those freed yesterday evening included activists such as senior advocate and former Union Law Minister Shanti Bhushan, Ms Bedi and Mr Sisodia.

Mr Hazare, the two Bhushans, Mr Kejriwal and former Karnataka Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde were among the five civil society members on the joint drafting committee set up by the Government in April, after a five-day fast by the former, to draft the Lokpal Bill for setting up an anti-corruption ombudsman in the country.

Since then, the Government has finalised a draft of the Bill which has been cleared by the Union Cabinet and was introduced earlier this month in Parliament. The Bill incorporates many of the suggestions made by Mr Hazare and his team, but not their main demands - that the Prime Minister and the higher judiciary be brought under the ambit of the Lokpal.

The Bill introduced by the Government has kept the Prime Minister out of the purview of the Lokpal as long as he or she is in office. Similarly, the higher judiciary has also been kept out of the ambit of the Lokpal and will be covered by a separate law that is on the anvil.

Mr Hazare had decided to go on an indefinite fast from today to press their demand that their version of the Bill be placed before Parliament.

The arrest of Mr Hazare evoked protests from civil society groups and non-governmental organisations and members of the general public from across the country.

Both Houses of Parliament had to be adjourned for the day yesterday, with the Opposition insisting on an immediate discussion on the issue through an adjournment motion.
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The Government said Home Minister P Chidambaram was willing to make a statement, but later the Opposition said they wanted a statement from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself.

As a showdown looked imminent, Dr Singh chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) yesterday to take stock of the situation. This morning, the core group of the Congress held a meeting to consider the latest developments.

Mr Chidambaram and two of his ministerial colleagues Kapil Sibal and Ambika Soni had addressed a press conference yesterday to explain that the arrests were a "painful duty" the Government had to carry out to ensure the maintenance of law and order.

They acknowledged that people had the right to stage peaceful protests, which the Government respected, but this right was circumscribed by conditions imposed by the local authorities after taking into account a variety of factors.