Swami firm on right to end8217; life, jailed

LUCKNOW, SEPT 12: The Hardwar administration has jailed Swami Shivanand, a prominent sadhu here, under Section 309 of IPC for deciding to ...

LUCKNOW, SEPT 12: The Hardwar administration has jailed Swami Shivanand, a prominent sadhu here, under Section 309 of IPC for deciding to end his life and attain salvation. The swami has not called off his fast-unto-death even in jail, saying it is the 8220;right of sadhus8221;.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Hardwar DM Harish Chand Pant said: 8220;We will be in trouble if he ends his life, and that was why we forced himto have lime juice in the jail on Monday.8221;

He added: 8220;Taking one8217;s life is unconstitutional. That was why we arrested the sadhu and his followers and are also keeping a regular watch in the jail so that they cannot take the extreme step.8221;

It is said that Swami Shivanand, by undertaking the fast, is trying to press the administration to revoke the transfers of former DM Aradhana Shukla and SP Vitul Kumar.

For the past one month, followers of the sadhu have been holding a relay hunger strike. On August 29, the saints met Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta in this connection, but nothing was done. Swami Shivanand then took up this form of protest.

Dr Anil Verma, a follower of Swami Shivanand, says the two officers, whose transfer is being opposed, were upright and had waged a war against the local liquor and sand mafia. 8220;We will never tolerate shifting of such officers for no fault of theirs. The government is obviously siding with the mafia; otherwise the transfers would have been revoked,8221; he said.

The transfer of the two officials came along with a series of others effected by the Chief Minister. The stir from the sadhus of Hardwar has put Gupta in a tight spot, particularly because the BJP government can ill afford to antagonise the sadhus now when it seems to be contemplating raking up the temple issue again.

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Enraged with the 8220;non-cooperative8221; state government, the agitating sadhu inthe jail has reportedly decided to withdraw his demand regarding transfers of the former DM but claimed that his 8220;right8221; of taking his life could not be challenged.

In a letter faxed from the jail to the Prime Minister and the National Human Rights Commission NHRC, Swami Shivanand says: 8220;I now withdraw all my demands but wish to end my life in a spiritual manner in my ashram and should be freed from jail to attain this purpose.8221;