Aam Aadmi Party leader Yogendra Yadav was detained from outside Tihar Jail
Arvind Kejriwal, chief of the Aam Aadmi Party, was on Wednesday arrested and taken to Delhi's Tihar jail after he refused to post bail in a defamation case filed by BJP leader Nitin Gadkari. (
Delhi court summons Kejriwal in criminal defamation case)
He is likely to remain in jail at least till Friday, when the court hears the case next. (
Nitin Gadkari slaps defamation notice on Arvind Kejriwal)
Mr Kejriwal, 45, had refused to pay a bail bond of Rs. 10,000.
Several AAP supporters, who held protests outside the prison, were detained later.
Section 144 on unlawful assembly, which prohibits the gathering of five or more persons, has been imposed in the area.
Senior AAP leaders Yogendra Yadav, Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh were also among those detained. No case has been registered against them by the police.
The AAP chief was summoned based on a complaint by Mr Gadkari. Mr Kejriwal's party had named the BJP leader in a list of "India's most corrupt" in January.
In a Delhi court, Mr Kejriwal declared that he would not give a bail bond on principle. (
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"I am ready to go to jail. We are setting precedence. I am not saying that give this treatment only to me. Give it to all," said the anti-corruption campaigner.
The AAP termed the decision of the court to send Mr Kejriwal to jail as an "erroneous" one.
"There is no provision in law which makes it mandatory for a defendant against whom a complaint is filed in a defamation case to furnish a bail bond," the party said in a statement. (
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The Congress and the BJP termed Mr Kejriwal's refusal to furnish the bail bond as a "publicity stunt".
"We condemn his act. We do not have any sympathy for him. The law is equal for everybody," said Delhi Congress' spokesperson Mukesh Sharma.
"The type of politics that he (Kejriwal) is continuously pursuing in this country has been grossly and thoroughly rejected by the people of India and more particularly by the people of the national capital," said BJP leader Harsh Vardhan.