Arvind Kejriwal Spends Night in Tihar Jail, AAP Plans More Protests Today

New Delhi – Arvind Kejriwal, the chief of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), spent the night in Delhi’s Tihar jail after being arrested in a defamation case. Scores of his party men who protested outside the prison last night were also detained.(Delhi court summons Kejriwal in criminal defamation case)

Mr Kejriwal was arrested on Wednesday after he refused to post bail in a case filed by BJP leader Nitin Gadkari. He is likely to remain in jail at least till tomorrow.

After he was taken to jail, some 60 AAP supporters sat on the road outside and clashed with policemen, causing traffic chaos in the west Delhi area. Prohibitory orders were put in place and the protesters were bundled into buses.

The party has planned more protests today.

Among the AAP leaders who are still in detention are Mr Kejriwal’s close aides Yogendra Yadav and Sanjay Singh.

“Still under detention at Hari Nagar police station. Not clear when they plan to release.” Yogendra Yadav tweeted this morning.

Another AAP leader, Manish Sisodia was released this morning. He had tweeted last night, “Detained from Tihar & kept@Mundka PS. SHO has orders to keep me detained till tomorrow morning. but not able to tell charges against me (sic).”

Mr Kejriwal was summoned by the court on a complaint by Mr Gadkari, who had been named in AAP’s list of “India’s most corrupt” in January.

The AAP chief was asked to furnish a bail bond of Rs. 10,000 but he said he would not do so on principle, as he had not committed any crime. “I am ready to go to jail. We are setting precedence. I am not saying that give this treatment only to me. Give it to all,” said the anti-corruption campaigner.

The AAP criticised the court for sending Mr Kejriwal to jail. “There is no provision in law which makes it mandatory for a defendant against whom a complaint is filed in a defamation case to furnish a bail bond,” the party said in a statement.

The Congress and the BJP accused Mr Kejriwal of a “publicity stunt”.

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh tweeted, “Kejriwal instead of doing NAUTANKI should join me in exposing Gadkari. He has also filed a defamation case in the same Court against me.”