Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were arrested by UP Police on Thursday after officials stopped the convoy carrying them to Hathras district. The duo were planning to meet the family of a young dalit girl who had died after being brutally gang-raped.
The Congress Twitter handle informed, “Shri @RahulGandhi, Smt @priyankagandhi & senior Congress leaders have been arrested by the UP police.” The Congress also uploaded a video showing a group of vehicles moving under police escort. According to media reports, Rahul and Priyanka were being taken to Greater Noida.
The vehicles carrying Rahul, Priyanka and other Congress activists were stopped in Greater Noida from proceeding to Hathras. Rahul, Priyanka and the other Congress activists with them then proceeded to march by foot to Hathras. The Congress Twitter handle put up a video clip of policemen surrounding Rahul Gandhi and purportedly trying to stop him from continuing.
Rahul was quoted by ANI as asking "whether only BJP and RSS can walk in India". Rahul alleged, "police pushed me, lathi-charged me and threw me to the ground. I want to ask, can only Modi Ji walk in this country? Can't a normal person walk? Our vehicle was stopped, so we started walking”. Shortly afterwards, Rahul was arrested by police. Footage aired by TV channels showed Rahul arguing with police officials about the circumstances behind his arrest. He was informed the arrest was under Section 188 of the IPC (disobedience to order of public servant).
After their vehicles were stopped, Rahul had tweeted "Meeting a family in mourning also scares the government; Do not be afraid so much, Chief Minister!"
Before their arrest, Priyanka Gandhi uploaded to Twitter images of people purportedly injured in the lathi charge. "When we all went out on foot with Rahul ji, we were repeatedly stopped, [police] used lathi in a barbaric manner. Many workers are injured. But our intention is sure. The sticks of an egotistical government cannot stop us. I wish this lathi, this police would have stood in defence of Hathras's dalit daughter," she tweeted.
Priyanka was quoted by PTI as telling mediapersons, "Around the same time last year, we were fighting for the Unnao daughter, the situation in UP has not changed in a year." The victim in the Unnao rape case, for which ex-BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar was convicted, was seriously injured in a car accident in July last year.
The Hathras administration imposed Section 144 in the area and sealed its borders. “We have no information about Priyanka Gandhi's visit. SIT will meet the victim's family members today, media will not be allowed," Hathras DM P. Lakshkar told news agency ANI.
Meanwhile, activists of the Samajwadi Party began protests in Hathras over the gang-rape.
ANI reported the National Commission For Women (NCW) had written to the DGP of Uttar Pradesh on the Hathras victim's body being cremated at midnight, seeking an explanation on the urgency to cremate the body of the victim in the absence of the family.
In Hathras, the 20-year-old woman was raped by four men on September 14 and referred to Safdarjung Hospital, and subsequently AIIMS, in Delhi with spinal injuries, paralysis and cuts in her tongue. The incident evoked outrage across the country. The Hathras victim's family had also accused the Yogi Adityanath government of forcibly cremating her in the wee hours of Wednesday.
Both the Gandhi siblings had torn into the Yogi government and called for his resignation. Rahul Gandhi tweeted on Thursday that "persecution of daughters was continuing in the jungle raj of UP". Rahul alleged the victim received no honour when alive and "her dignity was taken away in her final rites". Rahul alleged the BJP's motto was not 'Beti Bacchao', but "hide the truth, save power".
