Kejriwal arrested

Arvind Kejriwal, the leader of an upstart outfit Aam Aadmi Party, was arrested yesterday and sent to jail till May 23 by a Delhi court when he refused to furnish bail bond in a criminal defamation complaint filed against him by senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari.
"Take him into custody," Metropolitan Magistrate Gomati Manocha ordered after Kejriwal, former Delhi state Chief Minister, repeatedly refused to furnish a personal bail bond of Rs 10,000 and a surety of like amount.
"In these circumstances as the accused has refused to furnish bail bond or even personal bond without surety, this court is constrained to take the accused into custody.
"Let the accused be sent to judicial custody and be produced before the court on May 23," the magistrate said.
Kejriwal was summoned as an accused by the court in the defamation complaint in which Gadkari had alleged that he was defamed by the AAP leader, who had included his name in the party's list of "India's most corrupt".
After the court pronounced its order, Kejriwal, a former income tax inspector, was taken to lock up inside the court premises amid tight security and later taken to high-security Tihar Jail.
The magistrate, in her three-page order, also said the procedure of courts cannot be "thrown to the winds" at the whims and fancies of litigants.
"The court cannot act as a mute spectator when a particular litigant intentionally seeks to violate the procedure established by law.
"This case cannot be dealt with any differently than any other criminal cases where the courts insist on furnishing bail bond/personal bond to secure the presence of the accused persons.
The court, in its order, also said this was not a case where the accused is unable to furnish bail bond due to financial inability.
"The accused is just adamant to not furnish bail bond or even a personal bond for his appearance before the court," it said.
Kejriwal's party had put up a stunning performance in Delhi state legislature elections in December last year securing 28 of the 70 seats ahead of ruling Congress but a few seats behing BJP which emerged as the single largest party.
Later, with outside support from Congress, Kejriwal had formed a government but his government lasted for 49 days before he quit.
Kejriwal yesterday apologized to the people of Delhi and the country for "resigning midway" and said the party will gear up for elections, according to Times of India.
The AAP chief said the chances of his party forming a government in Delhi were negligible in the current scenario.
"I apologize to the people of Delhi and the country for resigning midway," he told reporters.
"We had a meeting and we have decided to gear up for elections. We will go among the people, will hold various meetings in Delhi in the coming days. We will apologize to people of Delhi in meetings and gain their trust to ask them to support us with complete majority," he said.
Asked about the possibility of forming a government again, Kejriwal said, "There were possibilities but none can be seen feasible at present to form the government."
His party AAP had fared very poorly in recent parliamentary elections across the country and could manage just four seats--all of them in Punjab state.
Kejriwal himself had fought against Narendra Modi, who is set to become India's Prime Minister on Monday, in Varanasi constituency by more than three lakh votes.