Anna Hazare attends Pune court hearing

After the agitation at New Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan in August to press for the passage of a strong Lokpal bill, anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare was in the city court for the first time on Thursday.

Even though the Gandhian was on the court premises for the over three hours to attend a hearing, he did not interact with the media.

Hazare had filed a defamation case against Shiv Sena leader from Jalgaon, Suresh Jain, in 2003. After the cross-examination of senior journalist Mukund Sangoram in the case, the court of chief judicial magistrate first class, SS Bose, deferred the matter till January 11, 2012.

The veteran leader had skipped the hearing last Friday due to security reasons following his controversial statement on the attack on Union agriculture minister and Nationalist
Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar.