Monthly Archives: April 2011

Rights activist Binayak Sen, serving a life sentence for sedition, was released from the Raipur Central Jail on Monday evening, three days after the Supreme Court said he should get bail.

Earlier in the day, Chhattisgarh’s Additional Session Judge B P Verma had however set the terms for the bail – Rs 50,000 bond and a surety amount of Rs 50,000.

Sen has also been asked to surrender his passport and visa (if any). He can’t travel out of the country either without the court’s permission.

Few could have anticipated that Anna Hazare’s movement for a stronger Lokpal bill would generate such an extraordinary groundswell of public support, particularly among the urban middle class. By the fourth day of his indefinite fast, the nationwide protests led by 71-year-old social activist have forced the Centre to drop the anti-corruption bill it had drafted, to agree to prepare a new and stronger draft in consultation with civil society activists, and to desperately seek an agreement to end the crisis. It is imperative that the Manmohan Singh government seeks to resolve the remaining differences — on whether the committee must be formally notified and whether a civil society nominee should head it — by forsaking obstinate stances and respecting the popular mood. With the Centre rejecting the positions staked out by Mr. Hazare on these two issues, he has called for a nationwide jail bharo on April 13. It is not certain how long the deadlock will continue. But in the welter of protests and the general anger about corruption, the key details about what this specific crusade is really about must not be lost.

SANDEEP JOSHI

Gazette notification issued on constitution of joint committee to prepare draft Lokpal Bill

Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare called off his five-day hunger strike on Saturday morning after receiving a  gazette notification from the Centre on the constitution of a joint committee, comprising members from the government and civil society, for preparation of the draft Lokpal Bill.

JIBY KATTAKAYAM

Even as some of his demands have been addressed and deliberations on others are continuing, social activist Anna Hazare on Thursday said he would “fight till his death.”

Addressing the media and a huge crowd of supporters who gathered at Jantar Mantar here on the third day of his fast, Mr. Hazare said politicians did not want a Lokpal Bill because it would put a stop to their “loot” of the exchequer. “Now scams like 2G spectrum, Commonwealth Games and Adarsh housing are being exposed but the corrupt are not going to jail. We want a Lokpal Bill to jail the corrupt and get them hanged,” the activist said, much to the surprise of his supporters.