By IANS,
Bangalore : Hundreds of people Tuesday gathered here in this Karnataka capital supporting a stronger Lokpal Bill and condemned the arrest of civil society activist Anna Hazare in New Delhi.
“Such arrests cannot end the agitation against corruption and for Jan Lokpal bill(proposed by Hazare and civil society),” former Karnataka Lokayuka N. Santosh Hegde told the gathering at Freedom Park in the city centre.
Hazare was sent to seven days’ judicial custody in Tihar jail after his detention earlier in the day.
People from various walks of life – students, writers, housewives, representatives of farmers’ organisations, pro-Kannada groups – protested at various places in the city against Hazare’s arrest.
“Arrest of one person by the government will not silence people’s voice against corruption and strong measures to curb it,” Hegde said in his brief speech.
Hegde was one of the five civil society members of the joint Lokpal Bill draft committee the central government had set up following Hazare’s four-day fast early this year.
Hegde, who retired as Lokayukta Aug 2, after submitting an explosive report on illegal mining leading to the resignation of B.S. Yeddyurappa from the chief minister’s post July 31, reiterated that the prime minister should be under the Lokpal.
He asserted there was no logic to keep the prime minister out of the Lokpal’s ambit.
Hazare and his team propose to bring the prime minister and the judiciary under the Lokpal’s purview.