Day 1: Scenes outside Tihar Jail
After protests through the day over the arrest of Anna Hazare, the Government is preparing to release him from Tihar Jail later tonight, say sources. Mr Hazare's supporters have gathered outside Tihar Jail in anticipation.
-
Kiran Bedi, a core member of Anna's team along with Prashant Bhushan and Swami Agnivesh, launched a protest outside Tihar Jail on Wednesday morning.
Anna Hazare is still at Tihar Jail, having spent the night there, and is adamant that he shall not leave till he is given unconditional permission to fast at Delhi's Jaiprakash Narain Park. -
Anticipating arrest, Anna recorded an appeal to people to come forward in peaceful protest and said a second line of leaders would continue to lead the movement.
Police said they had received orders to arrest Anna on grounds that he does not have permission to hold a protest. -
Anna Hazare has declared to carry out his protests from Tuesday, Aug 16, to pressure the government on the Lokpal Bill.
Mr Hazare made an unscheduled stop at Rajghat to meditate just hours after he was denied permission for his protest fast at a Delhi park starting Tuesday. -
Team Anna dubbed the police's move as unconstitutional and said that they along with their supporters would court arrest tomorrow at the venue of the fast after paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat. They said they had given an undertaking to the police accepting 16 conditions, while six of the conditions were "unconstitutional".
-
The Delhi Police had given a conditional permission to Team Anna to hold the fast at the Jai Prakash Narain National Park in central Delhi, subject to the latter submitting the undertaking.
The police had sought an assurance from them that the fast would begin at 8 am on Aug 16 and the park would be vacated by 6 pm on Aug 18, and that the gathering should not exceed 5,000 people. Further, the police wanted the participants to be seated in an organised manner and to not spill out on to the roads. -
Supporters gather around Indian rights activist Anna Hazare, as he leaves Rajghat, the Mahatma Gandhi memorial.
Regarding the police action Hazare said, "We will go to Jai Prakash Narain Park on Tuesday for the fast, if they arrest us, let them. We will start a non-violent jail bharo andolan. We will go back to fasting when they will release us from jail." -
At the core of Anna Hazare's protest against corruption is the draft Lok Pal Bill that the government has brought in Parliament in this session. Key among its features is that it seeks to exclude the Prime Minister from the purview of the Lok Pal. Anna's team of civil activists calls this the "Joke Pal Bill" and have burnt copies of it in protest.