New Delhi: Delhi Police on Tuesday evening released former AAP leader Yogendra Yadav, who now head the Swaraj Abhiyan outfit, and 89 others who had been arrested for holding protests against the Land Acquisition Bill without permission.
Yogendra Yadav and his associates were detained on Monday night and later arrested for taking out a protest march allegedly without permission. Dramatic scenes were witnessed outside Parliament Street police station in Delhi on Monday night after the Swaraj Abhiyan member was dragged and detained for protesting even as the allotted time for the same had supposedly ended on Monday evening.
"Since when did simply standing with a plough become a crime in this country. All means of communication were taken away from us and we were not able to contact anyone. We had decided to engage in satyagraha inside the jail. Now that we are out, we will launch satyagraha outside jail," Yadav said.
Yadav along with farmers were detained by the Delhi Police from Jantar Mantar. While the Swaraj Abhiyan member claimed that they were having a peaceful protest and had the permission for the same, the police said they were permitted to hold the protest only till Monday evening. The Delhi Police also maintained that Yadav and his supporters were told to leave Jantar Mantar keeping in mind the security concerns over Independence Day.
Senior lawyer and Swaraj Abhiyan member Prashant Bhushan moved Delhi High Court against the detention of Yadav calling the move illegal. Prashant Bhushan also got into a verbal altercation with the police. Questioning the move, he called the move 'illegal'. "What is his crime? Yadav has been illegally detained," he said.
In a surprising move, the protest drew support from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal just a few months after the two leaders parted ways after a bitter feud. "I strongly condemn the treatment meted out to Yogendraji by Delhi Police. They were protesting peacefully. It is their fundamental right," he tweeted on Tuesday morning.
Yadav and Bhushan had said that they will keep protesting till Independence Day after they were prevented from placing a "plough" in a symbol of protest outside the Prime Minister's residence.
Earlier, the march - part of the 'Jai Kisan Andolan' launched to protest against "anti-farmer" steps such as the Land Acquisition Bill - made its way through various parts of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh after being flagged off at Sangrur on August 1. The tractor march was supposed to culminate at Race Course on Monday.
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