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Nationwide protests over Anna’s arrest
Laws cannot be made by social activists, says Chidambaram
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‘Release Anna’ chorus unites Opposition
Woman RTI activist shot dead in MP A cop carries out inspection after RTI activist Shehla Masood (left) was shot dead in her car (right) in Bhopal on Tuesday. — PTI
Yeddyurappa seeks anticipatory bail
SC stays Hasan Ali’s release on bail
BSP denies ticket to tainted MLA
26/11: ISI men among seven charged in US
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Nationwide protests over Anna’s arrest
New Delhi/Mumbai/Guwahati, August 16
According to reports from the state capitals, hundreds of people were detained by the police in different cities and town after they gathered in the main thoroughfares, shouting slogans against the UPA government protesting the arrest. They were later released. The protests were peaceful and no violence was reported from any part of the country, the reports said. The 73-year-old Gandhian’s native village Ralegan Siddhi in Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra observed a bandh. Protesting farmers came out on the roads along with their cattle and blocked the traffic. “The entire village is observing a bandh today,” said Hazare’s associate Datta Awari, adding that villagers have decided to observe a fast to express solidarity with him. “Approximately, 3,000-4,000 people have been detained and released across Mumbai,” City Commissioner of Police Arup Patnaik said, adding they were picked up on the charges of unlawful assembly after they held demonstrations. The biggest protest against Hazare’s arrest took place at Azad Maidan in South Mumbai, a few kilometres away from the state secretariat. Led by activist Medha Patkar, more than a thousand people were picked up for holding protests without permission. “The people of India are the government,” Patkar said. She went on to say that the arrest of Hazare was expected after the treatment meted out to Baba Ramdev. “....the government can go to any level to curb our protest against corruption,” Patkar told reporters at the site. In the Bapunagar area of Ahmedabad, some of the agitators got their heads shaved to protest the arrest of Hazare in an early morning crackdown in Delhi. A large number of people came out on the streets in an organised and peaceful way across Assam.
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Laws cannot be made by social activists, says Chidambaram
New Delhi, August 16 The Home Minister said arresting social activist Anna Hazare and his team “was a painful duty” and added adding that the Delhi police “took the decision keeping in mind precedence, law and order". This morning, Anna Hazare was arrested under Section 107 and 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and produced before an Executive Magistrate and remanded to seven-day judicial custody. Anna Hazare and his supporters were arrested because there was a fear that their proposed fast would lead to a breach of peace, said Government’s ‘crisis-management’ team comprising Union ministers P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal and Ambika Soni. Chidambaram said Hazare and his supporters were detained and then arrested as they tried to defy orders. The Home Minister claimed, “The Delhi police arrested Anna Hazare and five others after Anna Hazare told the police that they would defy the law and were proceeding to the JP Park (near Ferozeshah Kotla ground). “Extensive discussions took place between the police and civil rights group on the location of the protest. The police told organisers to give an undertaking that they would abide by the conditions. The organisers refused to accept the conditions.” Union HRD and Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said the Government had to keep not only Hazare's rights in mind, but also those of the people who live and use the area where the protest was planned. Sibal, who is himself a lawyer, said the Jan Lokpal Bill, for which hundreds have already courted arrest, is only “Anna's law”. Sibal said the law represented the thought process of Anna Hazare, as an individual, and he should not try to force it on the country. Sibal, while questioning Hazare actions, said “I (Hazare), as an individual, decided on law...I won't accept anything else...If you don't pass it, I will fast...Is that a reasonable way of moving forward in a democracy?” Sibal said that if one person, like Anna Hazare, is allowed to fast for a law, others too may try to fast to death for other laws. “Someone else may say I have this law, Parliament must pass it, government must put it into force or I will go on a fast," he said.
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‘Release Anna’ chorus unites Opposition
New Delhi, August 16 Even as parties like the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of Lalu Prasad put their weight behind the BJP/NDA demands along with other Left leaders, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta’s suggestion to boycott the remaining Parliament session, was voted out with his own Left partners, the CPM and others, rejecting it.
But while BJP president Nitin Gadkari announced his party’s agitation in support of Anna from today with a candle-light demonstration this evening, the Left parties will commence their nationwide agitation from September 2, said CPM leader in the Rajya Sabha Sitaram Yechury. The two Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, who jointly hosted most opposition parties, spelt out later their terms and conditions for restoring normalcy in Parliament, as did Gurudas Dasgupta. “The Prime Minister should come to the House and make a statement and the two Houses should be allowed to discuss the matter,” Jaitley said while addressing the media along with Swaraj. While implicitly conceding that Anna’s Jan Lokpal Bill could be impracticable, Jaitley said under the Constitution every person or organisation had a right to express himself and protest peacefully. He said, “Dissent is the essence of democracy. Many questions can be raised on Anna Hazare’s version of the Lokpal Bill. It is also true that the right to frame laws lies solely with Parliament but every organisation and every individual has a right to protest peacefully.” The Opposition meeting was attended from the BJP/NDA side by Sushma, Jaitley, Murli Manohar Joshi and S.S. Ahluwalia and NDA convener Sharad Yadav. Besides them, Sitaram Yechury and Ramchandra Dom from the CPM, Gurudas Dasgupta and D Raja (CPI), Mysura Reddy (TDP) and Raghuvansh and Shailendra were the others who attended the afternoon meeting. But for some inexplicable reason nobody turned up from the AIADMK, BJD and the BSP. Meanwhile, the Left parties too strongly condemned the arrest of Anna and sought the Prime Minister’s statement on the turn of events. But they rejected Gurudas Dasupta’s call for boycotting Parliament proceedings, who later ate his words and said the protests would continue inside and outside the Parliament.
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Woman RTI activist shot dead in MP
Bhopal, August 16 “Shehla Masood was shot dead around 11 am when she was sitting in her car,” said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Adarsh Katiyar. The motive and details of the killing are awaited, he said, adding that a hunt had been launched to nab the assailant. Shehla, who sat on a fast here recently in support of Anna Hazare's India Against Corruption campaign, had also been working on a number of other things, including wildlife conservation. She was actively involved in raising issues related to the deaths of tigers in various sanctuaries of Madhya Pradesh. Known to be a hard worker, Shehla also ran a company called Miracles, which used to do various things, including event management. Meanwhile, a pall of gloom descended on the residence of the slain 32-year-old activist, who according to her aged aunt Rubab Zaidi was entering her car to leave for office when she was shot by a person with a gun. She said when the car did not move for about 15 minutes, she came down from her house and found Shehla slumped inside the car. Shehla's body has been sent for a post-mortem even as the police has seized the car and locked her room in her residence. Shehla was a spinster and her only sister lives in the United States of America. The aunt said people who knew the activist were aware that she was a hard-working woman who would spare no effort to raise issues which affected the common man. Zaidi said she could not discern any motive for the murder as Shehla was not known to have enmity with anyone. Madhya Pradesh Director-General of Police S K Raut visited the residence of Shehla and interacted with her relatives. IG Shailendra Shrivastava expressed confidence that Shehla's killer would soon be apprehended. “I am sure that the murder would not remain undetected for long and we will solve the murder soon,” he said. — PTI
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Yeddyurappa seeks anticipatory bail
Bangalore, August 16 Former CM Yeddyurappa moved his bail plea on a private complaint filed against him in the Lokayukta court, alleging irregularities in denotification of land acquired by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). The Lokayukta court had issued summons to Yeddyurappa, seeking his appearance in the court on August 27 in the case filed by advocate Sirajin Basha. Yeddyurappa moved another application, praying for bail in a case which the Lokayukta court has referred to the Lokayukta police for investigation. This is concerning a complaint filed by Janata Dal (Secular) leader Y S V Datta, accusing Yeddyurappa of receiving a kickback of Rs 13 crore to award the Upper Bhadra irrigation project to a private firm.
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SC stays Hasan Ali’s release on bail
New Delhi, August 16 A three-member Bench, headed by Justice Altamas Kabir, passed an order staying the operation of the bail order till August 18 when the Centre’s appeal against the HC verdict would be heard again. Ali had not been released on bail till
today due to the intervening weekend and the national holiday on account of Independence Day yesterday.
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BSP denies ticket to tainted MLA
Faizabad (UP), August 16 "The top leadership took this decision to avoid an adverse publicity for the party because of Bablu being the prime accused in the arson case which put state government in the dock," zonal coordinator of BSP and vice chairman of state SC/ST commission Mahaveer Gautam said today. Bablu Singh is a sitting MLA of the party from Bikapur Assembly constituency of Faizabad district. The BSP may remove names of few more candidates having criminal background from its announced list, Gautam said. — PTI
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26/11: ISI men among seven charged in US
New Delhi, August 16 The minister said the testimonials during the trial drew attention to the links between the ISI and the terrorists responsible for the Mumbai terrorist attacks. Singh said the issue of support for terrorist organisations in Pakistan was also discussed during the India-US strategic dialogue held in New Delhi. — PTI
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New Delhi, August 16
Bhopal, August 16
As the BJP, the ruling party in Karnataka, today took out processions in various parts of the state to protest against the Anna Hazare’s arrest in Delhi, party’s senior leader BS Yeddyurappa filed applications in the High Court for anticipatory bail in two cases pertaining to alleged irregularities in land de-notification and an irrigation scheme.