Advocates throw weight behind Hazare

MYSORE: From social activists to advocates to professors, the city on Tuesday threw its weight behind Anna Hazare, protesting the Centre's move to arrest him.
The advocates abstained from the court proceedings for the day to protest against the detention of the social crusader and held a dharna near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, in front of the Law Courts. They criticized the manner in which Hazare was detained.A group of professors sat on a dharna at Gandhi Bhavan in Manasa Gangotri in support of Anna, even as social activists led by Pa Mallesh staged a dharna at DC office.
Meanwhile, the PUCL condemned the arrest of Anna Hazare, while other activists said, in a democracy citizens have the right to protest and articulate his set of demands in a peaceful manner. Besides this, the Constitution provides citizens the fundamental right to protest against government policies. It is unconstitutional for the administration to proscribe the method of protest when it is peaceful. The Centre is guilty of violating the Constitution, said PUCL (Karnataka) general secretary V Lakshminarayana.
The PUCL views it with grave concern that police could not present any legal basis to arrest the civil society activists. This shows that rule of law has fully been undermined by the Delhi police. It demanded immediate release of the activists.
The CPI's Mysore district committee secretary H R Sheshadri called the Centre's action as "repressive and representing fascists' culture." This has been the Congress' culture, he stated.