Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan accuse police of harassing supporters

NEW DELHI; Activist Arvind Kejriwal today recorded his statement before police in connection with the August 26 protest, saying he is ready to face punishment if the government thinks that he provoked rioting.

Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan, Manish Sisodia, Gopal Rai, Kumar Vishwas and Sanjay Singh went to Parliament Street Police Station here accusing police of harassing their supporters who participated in the August 26 protest against coal block allocation.

The activists asked police to arrest them and not harass their supporters by sending them summons. However, police did not arrest them and instead recorded their statement under Section 161 of CrPC.

Kejriwal told reporters that police was "harassing" the volunteers in the name of recording statements in connection with the cases registered on August 26.

"We have said that whatever we did on August 26 was for country. If it is crime for government, we are ready to face punishment. We will continue to do that in future also. If you mean that fighting against corruption is breaking law, then we have broken the law and we will keep breaking this law.

"We have sent a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today. We have asked police to consider it as our confession statement. We have also asked police that we want to record our statement before a magistrate. They said they will get back to us," Kejriwal said.

In the letter, the activists said they were admitting that they have violated prohibitory orders and they will continue to do so in fighting corruption.

"We have been accused of rioting and provoking riots. If you ask the people, they will tell it is Congress and BJP which are spreading riots in the country. But if according to your law, we are into rioting, then admit our guilt and ready to face punishment," he said.

Five cases of rioting have been registered against Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan, Manish Sisodia, Kumar Vishas, Gopal Rai and several unknown people for their protest against the coal block allocation.