October 4, 2020 5:16:06 am
Congressional leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra meet with the relatives of Hathras’ victim. (Source: INC)
Congressional leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who stopped on Thursday on their way to Hathras to meet the 19-year-old’s family, managed to reach the village on Saturday and spent an hour at her residence.
“She (Priyanka) sat with me, asked me about my daughter, how she died, what happened on September 14…. She asked about her cremation, ”the victim’s mother said after congressional leaders left. “They just asked us about our daughter and promised to help us get justice.”
Social activist Yogita Bhayana, who was with the family when the two leaders met with them, told The Sunday Express: “They asked the family if they wanted a CBI investigation, to which the family said no. They offered their condolences to the family and offered their support ”.
When the two leaders arrived at the family residence, more than 50 UP Police personnel and Deputy Magistrate Prem Prakash Meena were present. The victim’s brother told The Sunday Express: “They assured us of help; They said they will do what they can. “
Hours earlier, Priyanka and Rahul had run into a heavy police deployment in the DND while leaving the NCR. As her vehicle drove past a crowd of congressional workers and headed toward the DND exit, some party workers were involved in clashes with police stationed at the toll gates.
As some congressional workers faced police batons, Priyanka got out of the vehicle and tried to protect them. Eventually she pushed off some members of the police staff and moved the barricades to the side of an exit as the caravan inched behind them.
The head of the Delhi state Congress, Anil Chaudhary, said he was injured in the lathicharge charge. “Congressional workers will donate blood for the safety of UP Dalit women, girls and women. We are not afraid of the Lathis or the Modi-Yogi regime, ”he said.
On the way to the village on Saturday, Rahul tweeted: “Nothing in the world can prevent me from meeting this unhappy family of Hathras and sharing their pain.”
Selja Kumari, former Union minister for social justice and empowerment, who was present at the DND, told The Sunday Express: “The UP government does not believe in justice. Believe in the raj of the jungle, and this is the result of that. In a democratic country, anyone can meet anyone. Is there democracy here? You don’t see any evidence of that under the UP
government.”
Dr Sai Anamika, regional coordinator, AICC member, said: “Party workers and some high-ranking politicians were injured (in the police position). Among them was Kamal Kishor. “
The top leaders of the KC Venugopal party, Randeep Singh Surjewala and Adhir Ranjan Choudhury also accompanied Rahul and Priyanka.
Following the meeting with the family, Priyanka tweeted five “questions from the family of the victim of Hathras”: “that a judicial investigation be made through the Supreme Court”; the district magistrate of Hathras is suspended; “Why was the woman’s body burned with gasoline without asking us”; “Why do they deceive us, threaten us again and again”; and “we collected flowers from the pyre for the sake of humanity, but how do we know if the body was even our daughter’s?”
She tweeted: “Getting answers to these questions is a right of this family and the UP government will have to respond.”
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