New Delhi: Yogendra Yadav, former AAP leader and founder-member of farmer rights group Swaraj Abhiyan, was arrested yesterday. He said he was “dragged and hit”, a charge which the police denied.
Yadav and many fellow activists of the group were arrested around 1am. from Jantar Mantar, where they held a protest, demanding adequate compensation for farmers affected by the land bill as well as those hit by crop loss.
Yadav’s aide Anil Kumar Maurya said that they had taken prior permission from the Delhi police commissioner to hold the protest till last Monday and were told the permission may be extended.
However, police said Yadav was permitted to hold the protest last Sunday and Monday only and Yadav continued his protest early yesterday without permission.
Deputy Commissioner Police Vijay Singh said that when police asked Yadav to end his protest, he wrote another letter to police asking for permission to continue his protest till next Friday, the eve of Independence Day on August 15.
“Considering the Independence Day and the terror threats, we did not allow him to continue the protest. But he challenged the police and continued his protest. Later, he was arrested and kept in parliament street police station,” Singh said.
Singh said that allegations made by Yogendra Yadav were false.
“There was no manhandling. Our police officers only tried to persuade them to end their protest. The protestors were not beaten up.”
Singh said Yadav and 85 other protesters will be kept in custody till yesterday evening as they threatened to march up to the prime minister’s house.
But Yadav insisted that he was manhandled by police. “I have been dragged, hit and pushed into a police van. Still don’t know my crime,” he tweeted.
Yadav’s aide Maurya said they were holding “a protest outside the police station since 2am. after Yogendra Yadav was arrested”.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also took to Twitter and condemned the police action.
“I strongly condemn the treatment meted out to Yogendraji by Delhi Police. They were protesting peacefully. It is their fundamental right,” he said.
Meanwhile, Delhi Police yesterday informed the Delhi High Court that 83 people, including former AAP leader Yogendra Yadav, who were allegedly detained “illegally” have been released.
A division bench of Justice Kailash Gambhir and Justice P S Teji, after taking note of the submission by Delhi Police, disposed of a habeas corpus plea filed by advocate Prashant Bhushan for the release of the detained people and to launch an inquiry against the police personnel who arrested them.
Police told the court that the arrested people were presented before a special executive magistrate at Mandir Marg and they have since been released.
Advocate Kamini Jaiswal and Prashant Bhushan argued that the fundamental rights of the arrested people were violated by the police action and there was also violation of the Supreme Court’s guidelines.
As the advocates said police arrested the people without informing their families, the bench asked them to file an appropriate plea.
Yadav and the others were detained by Delhi Police early yesterday from the Jantar Mantar protest site.
The plea alleged that the lawyers were not allowed to meet the detainees and they were arrested while holding a peaceful protest.
IANS
