Tweeting a picture showing Congressional Leader Priyanka Gandhi visibly abused on her way to visit the family of Hathras’ gang rape victim, Shiv Sena Leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut asked on Saturday if there were no female police officers in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led government.
Raut raised the question in a tweet sharing an image of a police officer holding Priyanka Gandhi’s kurta close to the shoulder. The image is from Saturday morning when a delegation of Congressional leaders consisting of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi set off for the village of Hathras on a second attempt.
Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi had announced their plans to visit Hathras to meet the aggrieved family of a 19-year-old Dalit woman who was gang-raped by four men on 14 September. He later succumbed to his injuries and died two weeks later in a hospital in Delhi.
Read also | ‘We will keep fighting until justice is done’: Priyanka Gandhi in Hathras
After their visit, congressional leaders said their party supports the aggrieved family after meeting with relatives of the Hathras gang rape victim on Saturday.
Priyanka Gandhi consoled the victim’s mother and said that together they will stand firm in the face of injustice against the family.
“The family could not see their daughter for the last time. UP CM Yogi Adityanath must understand her responsibility. Until justice is served, we will continue this fight, “he said after meeting the victim’s family.
Rahul Gandhi said the state government must protect the grieving family. “I’m with family. It is the responsibility of the state government to guarantee their safety, ”he said.
The leaders remained with the family for more than an hour after arriving in Hathras around 6.45pm following a series of dramatic events, including their arrest by UP Police on Thursday for violating Section 144 and the law against the pandemic.
In a high-voltage drama, the Congressional delegation was stopped on its way on the Delhi-Noida border, sparking a minor altercation between Congressional volunteers and Uttar Pradesh police officers stationed on the border. Dozens of policemen in riot gear lined the Delhi-Noida direct air route to prevent the Congressional convoy from moving to Hathras, some 180 km away.
Also read: Nation wants justice for India’s daughter, Rahul Gandhi tweets hours after visiting Hathras
Finally, as swarms of Congressional workers and others jostled each other amid loud honks, slogans, and Congressional flags waving in the air, Gautam Buddh Nagar police finally allowed five people, including Rahul Gandhi, to go to Hathras. Congressional workers, some of whom described the incident as “brutal repression,” claimed that police used batons to disperse the crowd. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were previously arrested on Thursday when they tried to go to Hathras.
(With PTI inputs)
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