AAP activists clash with cops
Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was taken into judicial custody immediately on Wednesday after metropolitan magistrate Gomti Manocha ordered his detention at the Patiala House Courts. He was then moved to the Tihar jail, Asia’s largest prison.
Mr Kejriwal was detained after he refused to furnish bail bond of ` 10,000 in a criminal defamation case filed against him by BJP leader Nitin Gadkari. He was remanded to two- day judicial custody and is expected to remain in jail till Friday, when the case will again come up for hearing. The Aam Aadmi Party leader was sent to in Jail Number 4, where anti- corruption crusader Anna Hazare had been lodged earlier. The court allowed him to carry a mosquito repellent and his diabetes medicines to the prison. His request to the court that he be allowed to wear spectacles during his detention was also granted.
The jail officials, meanwhile, said that Mr Kejriwal would be given food without any spices considering that he is diabetic.
Furious over his detention, AAP supporters clashed with the police outside the Tihar jail, near Janakpuri. Protesters, including senior AAP leaders Yogendra Yadav, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and Rakhi Birla, held a demonstration outside the jail, opposing the order of the court and wanted to court arrest.
They clashed with the police after it imposed Section 144 of crpc restricting mass gathering outside the jail and started evicting them. Mr Yadav and Mr Sanjay Singh were dragged from the place by police personnel. The traffic was thrown out of gear in the area.
“If it is a crime to call a corrupt person corrupt, then send us to jail or hang us. This is dictatorship,” said Sanjay Singh as Mr Yadav criticised the police decision to evict the AAP workers from the protest site.
“We are not doing anything illegal. Those who are indulging in corruption... are sitting in their drawing rooms.” he said.