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India Anti-Graft Activist Anna Hazare Detained
BBC NEWS, SOUTH ASIA
August 16, 2011: Police in India have detained prominent activist Anna Hazare hours before a planned fast against a proposed new anti-corruption law. Mr Hazare had pledged to begin an indefinite hunger strike in the capital Delhi on Tuesday despite the police denying him permission to fast for more than three days. He has called the proposed legislation was a "cruel joke". India has recently been hit by a string of high-profile corruption scandals.
Plainclothes police officers picked up Anna Hazare from a house in the Indian capital Delhi and drove him away. The 74-year-old activist was driven away in an unmarked car, fellow activist Akhil Gogoi told the AFP news agency. It is understood that Mr Hazare is being held in a government facility. His supporters plan to move the Supreme Court against the detention.
Mr Hazare has described the fight against corruption as the "second war of Independence" and said the movement will not "stop with my arrest." In a pre-recorded video message put up on YouTube, he said: "Millions have joined the movement against corruption. The battle will continue, and more people will court arrest. There will come a time when there will be no space in India's jails."
Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, a prominent supporter of Mr Hazare, said Mr Hazare's detention proved that the government is "dictatorial and not heeding to the democratic rights of the people". Several other prominent supporters of Mr Hazare were also detained.
On Monday Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said hunger strikes by campaigners would not help in fighting corruption.
Mr Hazare and civil society representatives have been pushing for a strong ombudsman with powers to investigate corruption charges against the prime minister, senior judges and MPs, among others. But in the Lokpal (Citizen's Ombudsman) bill, the government has refused to include the prime minister and senior members of the judiciary in the ombudsman's remit.
Some of the recent corruption scandals to have rocked India include a multi-billion dollar alleged telecoms scam, alleged financial malpractices in connection with the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games and allegations that houses for war widows were diverted to civil servants. Critics of the government say that recent scandals point to a pervasive culture of corruption in Mr Singh's administration. A recent survey said corruption in India cost billions of dollars and threatened to derail growth.
