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‘Anna’ chant gets shriller across the nation
Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravishankar meet Hazare in Tihar Jail |
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Preventive detention only if imminent danger to peace: SC
CBI books Jagan in assets case
Samjhauta Blasts
Floods in Meghalaya leave 9 dead
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‘Anna’ chant gets shriller across the nation
New Delhi, August 17 TDP supporters demonstrated across Andhra Pradesh against his arrest with party chief former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu leading a dharna at a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Secunderabad. In Indore, BJP workers staged a sit-in waving placards against the police action against Hazare. Lawyers observed a one-day token strike in all the six district courts in Delhi protesting non-inclusion of judiciary in the Lokpal Bill among other issues, interrupting the proceedings in the 2G case. The Orissa Assembly was adjourned twice amid uproar as BJP and ruling BJD MLAs condemned the police action. In Tamil Nadu, a large number of people observed fast and more than 300 activists assembled at Adyar in Chennai under the banner of "India Against Corruption", an umbrella body of the citizen's movement fighting for a powerful Lokpal Bill. The Bihar unit of 'India Against Corruption' said in Patna that its members would start a wider contact programme in the state from tomorrow. Unrelenting supporters of Hazare and BJP activists staged demonstrations across Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh voicing their support for an effective Lokpal Bill. In Jammu, hundreds of demonstrators converged on the Jammu-Pathankote highway at Traro area in the district and took out a protest while in Leh, a day-long dharna and a protest march were held. Over 300 students of the North East Regional Institute of Science and Technology at Nirjuli in Arunachal Pradesh took out a procession in support of Hazare which culminated near the Deputy Commissioner's office at Naharlag. Mumbai: Students, who had hit the streets yesterday, got support from government employees, Bollywood personalities and religious leaders today. Unlike yesterday, the Maharashtra police refrained from arresting protesters. "The police haven't detained anyone so far," a police officer at Azad Maidan in South Mumbai said. Among those who addressed the protesters at Azad Maidan included ad personality Bharat Dabholkar, Bollywood music composer Vishal Dadlani and actor Purab Kohli. Dadlani told reporters after the protest that more celebrities from Bollywood would turn up tomorrow to express support for Hazare. Though political flags and symbols were absent at today's venues, a number of parties mobilised their cadres to protest under the banner of the National Flag. BJP workers, who were booed at Azad Maidan yesterday for carrying their saffron standard, turned up today bearing the Tricolour and jostled with members of Left parties. Joining them were unions of government employees including those from the National Railway Mazdoor Union. Representatives of mill workers also joined in the protests today. Ex-servicemen were other notable participants today with residents of the defence colony at Powai expressing support for Anna. Religious leaders led by maulanas from the All-India Imam Parishad also turned up. At the IIT Mumbai, students continued their fast for the second day today. They later formed a human chain spread across the entire campus. Bangalore: Thousands of students thronged Freedom Park here in support of Anna Hazare, with former Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh N Hegde, a former Supreme Court judge, also joining the demonstration on the second day today. Slogans such as "Vande Mataram" and "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" constantly rent the air at the venue as several students said, "Anna is fighting for us. We are here to support him.” Some students said that principals of their institutions had given them permission to take part in the protest. Techies, members of NGOs and elderly were seen filing in as the crowd swelled. Hegde said that the government made a mistake by arresting Hazare and now wanted to rectify it. He said if the government came out with "open heart and open soul, we (the civil society members) are ready for discussions again.” Capt GR Gopinath, founder of low-cost airline Air Deccan, said the fight was not against any political party but against the system. Guwahati: The All-Assam Students’ Union (AASU) organised a torch-light procession all over the state tonight. AASU leaders and members and activists of the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity (KMSS) continued with their demonstration all over the state for the second consecutive day today. A large number of leading citizens in Guwahati also joined the hunger strike organised by the Assam chapter of India Against Corruption in the heart of the city. At least 20 students from the IIT Guwahati and students from various educational institutions took part in the hunger strike.
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Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravishankar meet Hazare in Tihar Jail
New Delhi, August 17 Ramdev, with whom Hazare and his associates have differences due to his alleged links with Hindutva elements, reached Tihar Jail this afternoon. Earlier, Ramdev submitted a memorandum against Hazare's arrest to President Pratibha Patil. Addressing protesters, Ramdev termed Hazare's arrest as a "conspiracy in the name of democracy". "Anna is fighting for a strong Lokpal and his dream will be fulfilled. The whole country and all patriotic countrymen are with him in this struggle," he said. Activists Kiran Bedi, Swami Agnivesh and Medha Patkar had earlier joined hundreds of protestors while a large number of the Gandhian's supporters took out marches across the city. — PTI
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Preventive detention only if imminent danger to peace: SC
New Delhi, August 17 The Supreme Court has defined the scope of Section 151 of the CrPC in a verdict delivered on August 12. A police officer could arrest a person without any order from a Magistrate and without any warrant “only if he has come to know of a design of the person concerned to commit any cognisable offence.” A further condition that should be fulfilled for the exercise of such power “is that the arrest should be made only if it appears to the police officer concerned that the commission of the offence cannot be otherwise prevented,” a Bench comprising Justices P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan ruled. “If these conditions are not fulfilled and a person is arrested under Section 151 of the CrPC, the arresting authority may be exposed to proceedings under the law for violating the fundamental rights inherent in Articles 21 and 22 of the Constitution,” the Bench clarified. The apex court passed the judgment while quashing the Delhi High Court direction for a CBI probe into the preventive detention resorted to by the police of two persons in a drunken brawl case in the Capital’s Jahangirpuri area. The Delhi Police arrested Anna yesterday under Sections 107 and 151 of the CrPC while he was reportedly proceeding to the Jai Prakash Narain (JPN) Park here for staging an indefinite fast demanding a strong Lokpal Bill. Section 107 pertains to dealing with a person who is likely to commit a breach of peace or disturb public
tranquillity.
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Making laws the right of Parliament, reasserts PC
New Delhi, August 17 Replying to a debate on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement on Hazare episode, Chidambaram asserted that making laws was the sovereign right of Parliament although the views of the civil society could be taken on board. He said “respected” Hazare has the “undoubted right” to protest “as long as he wants” but subject to certain conditions and hoped he would do so. Narrating the sequence of events that led to Hazare’s arrest, Chidambaram argued that it was not the first time that Section 144 of the CrPC had been invoked and that the activist had been held for the intent to violate prohibitory orders. “If there is apprehension of breach of peace, there can be an arrest as a preventive measure... In this case it was quite clear that Hazare was going to violate Section 144,” he said, adding that decisions about Hazare's arrest were taken by the police and he was kept informed. Chidambaram said Hazare had conveyed this to the police officers who met him at an apartment in the Mayur Vihar locality. “We will deal with Hazare issue politically and administratively, fairly and justly and dispassionately, and without any bias,” Chidambaram said, responding to a question from JD-U leader Sharad Yadav.
— PTI
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Maya takes U-turn, supports Anna
Lucknow, August 17 In a press statement issued by the state unit of the BSP, Mayawati came out in support of not only Anna and his team but all organisations fighting against corruption and criminalisation of politics. Earlier, Mayawati had categorically criticised the civil society panel constituted to draft the Jan Lokpal Bill on the grounds that it did not have Dalit representation. “If previous governments had put a stop to the criminalisation of politics and the resultant corruption, the need for the creation of the BSP would not have arisen,” she remarked today. Condemning the arrest of the Gandhian leader and his team from his Delhi residence yesterday, she described it as “inappropriate in a democracy”. Asking the Congress-led UPA government to sort out differences with the civil society panel drafting the Jan Lokpal Bill, Mayawati said only after that it would be feasible to work together to draft an exemplary anti-corruption law for the country. Using the occasion to give her party and government a pat on its back, Mayawati said her party had sent its ministers, MP, MLAs and office-bearers to jail after their name cropped in criminal and corruption cases. She also underlined the manner in which her government had ordered twin CBI inquires into the mysterious custodial death of Deputy CMO Y S Sachan inside the Lucknow jail as well as in the murder of two CMOs and the related issue of widespread financial irregularities in the state’s National Rural Health Mission.
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Who said what
Sanjay Nirupam, Congress: No one is above the law. What is Anna protesting against when the Lokpal Bill is with Parliament? Is his fast against Parliament? Rashid Alvi, Cong: The US never supported any movement in India since its independence. It needs to be considered whether there is any power which is supporting this movement which wants to destabilise not only the government but the country.
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CBI books Jagan in assets case
Hyderabad, August 17 The development follows the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s order for a full-fledged CBI probe into the alleged assets of the country’s richest MP. The court had also directed the CBI to register cases against the individuals and companies who had made investments in the firms promoted by the Kadapa MP to find out whether those investments were made as a quid quo pro arrangement for the favours they got from the previous regime headed by his father late YS Rajasekhar Reddy during the period 2004-09. CBI Joint Director K Lakshminarayana was said to have handed over a copy of the FIR to a special CBI court here and sought permission for conducting searches at the companies owned by Jagan. Special teams of CBI officials, drawn from Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata and Visakhapatnam, have been formed to step up the investigations. “Once we receive the permission from the court, we will decide on the further course of action,” CBI sources said. The state-run Dilkusha Guest House here would be converted into the operational headquarters of the multi-disciplinary probe team comprising officials from the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department. The political circles here are abuzz with speculation that simultaneous raids are on the cards, targeting Jagan’s key properties and also the individuals and companies who had invested in his business ventures mainly covering media, cement, infrastructure and power sectors. As per the latest Lok Sabha records, Jagan (38) is the richest MP with declared assets of
Rs 365.68 crore.
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NIA allowed to conduct forensic tests
Rajinder Nagarkoti/TNS
Panchkula, August 17 The agency is trying to find a link between Samjhauta and other blasts, including those carried out at Ajmer, Hyderabad Mecca Masjid and Malegaon. In a letter submitted to the court of Special NIA Judge, Panchkula, NIA official Prithvi Singh, said: “To unearth the larger conspiracy behind the blasts, the comparison of IEDs and other material used in the Samjhauta blasts with the explosives used in other blasts is required to be done by a team of experts.” A team from the CFSL, Hyderabad, will conduct tests at the NIA camp office in Panchkula on August 21 and 22. NIA official have also sought permission from the court to unseal the objects recovered from the site of blasts and hand over the same to the CFSL experts for preparing a comparison report. The NIA official assured the court that they would re-seal the objects after conducting the tests. Swami Aseemanand’s counsel Manvir Rathi, however, said there were chances that the NIA would temper with the objects recovered from the blast site. Moreover, if the agency only wanted to match the sample reports of the six blast cases, there was no need to unseal the material as the reports of lab tests already conducted on those samples were available. However, NIA Special Judge Subhas Mahela allowed the NIA application and directed the agency to hold tests in the presence of Aseemanand’s counsel. The court directed that the tests be held at the Panchkula Police Lines on August 21 and 22.
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Floods in Meghalaya leave 9 dead
Shillong, August 17 Jarbish Sangma (23) was swept away by flood waters in Selsella, while 66-year-old Abinash Marak died in Garobandha area. One person was missing in Tura and believed to have been swept away, Deputy Commissioner Sanjay Goyal said. Over 5,000 persons - around 3,000 in Selsella area and 2,000 in Garobadha area - were displaced as the Ganol and Jinjiram rivers overflowed, inundating large tracts of inhabited and cultivated lands in West Garo Hills district after breaching their embankments, sources said. Six relief camps have been set up at Garobadha, Rangatpara, Garodoba, Hariogaon, Mukdagre and Sankargiri and about 2,000 persons have been provided shelter there, a government statement said. The district administration would provide rice, dal and salt for the affected people, Goyal said. An amount of Rs 30 lakh from the calamity relief fund has already been placed with the Deputy Commissioner as advance to meet the contingency. An additional amount of Rs 10 lakh is being released to enable the district administration to organise effective relief to all affected areas and people, the statement said. — PTI
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‘Tainted’ BSP minister quits
Lucknow, August 17 In his letter to CM Mayawati, the minister has written that he has come to learn that the Lokayukta has made some adverse observations against him. “In this context, I am submitting my resignation so that an impartial inquiry can be ordered,” said the minister. This is the second minister in Mayawati’s government to go following indictment by the Lokayukta. In December 2010, Religious Affairs Minister Rajesh Tripathi had resigned after he was found collecting funds from a crematorium in Gorakhpur. Yesterday, after studying the reply of the minister, the Lokayukta had sent a report to the CM, recommending his removal. Justice Mehrotra has indicted the minister on several counts. This includes grabbing gram samaj land in Etah, misusing office for award of construction contracts of veterinary hospitals to his son, cooperative federation (Parag) milk filling contract to his relative, instigating violence against his rivals and getting his name entered in the revenue records on false documents to take illegal possession of gram samaj land.
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Nationwide protests continued for the second consecutive day today against the arrest of Anna Hazare with political parties holding rallies in various states to press their demands that included a strong Lokpal Bill.
New Delhi, August 17
Hyderabad, August 17
Sushma Swaraj, BJP: The fight is not about the Lokpal Bill or the Jan Lokpal Bill; it is about the violation of people’s right to protest. I reject PM’s statement in totality.
Arun Jaitley, BJP: Has anybody disputed that it is the right and duty of Parliament to make a law. The civil society is not saying they will substitute Parliament. But they have a right to express their viewpoint on the law.
LK Advani, BJP: The detention of Hazare and his supporters raises grave concern in our minds. We are reminded of what happened after Emergency was imposed in 1975. Don’t forget the fate you met after the Emergency.
Mayawati, BSP: The manner in which Anna Hazare and his supporters were arrested from their residence in Delhi on Tuesday was not correct from a democratic point of view.
Brinda Karat, CPM: Anna’s arrest reflects the Congress’ refusal to tolerate any movement against corruption. The Congress leadership took this decision because their own government is steeped into corruption.