Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 1

Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday left Delhi to meet the family of Hathras gangrape victim, whose body was allegedly forcibly cremated by the state police on Tuesday night.

Vehicles of Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were stopped in Uttar Pradesh’s Greater Noida on Thursday, party officials said.

Rahul and Priyanka started walking to Hathras after Uttar Pradesh police stopped their vehicles.

The convoy was stopped near Pari Chowk, prompting party workers and senior leaders to proceed on foot, with some functionaries saying they will walk down to Hathras.

“Around the same time last year, we were fighting for the Unnao daughter and the situation in UP has not changed in a year,” Priyanka Gandhi told reporters as she started walking on the expressway.

Vadra, in a tweet, said the family had been detained and was not being allowed to talk to anyone. Posting a video of the victim’s father, Vadra said the family was being forced to fall in line.

हाथरस की बेटी के पिता का बयान सुनिए।

उन्हें जबरदस्ती ले जाया गया। सीएम से वीसी के नाम पर बस दबाव डाला गया। वो जांच की कार्रवाई से संतुष्ट नहीं हैं।

अभी पूरे परिवार को नजरबंद रखा है। बात करने पर मना है।

क्या धमकाकर उन्हें चुप कराना चाहती है सरकार?

अन्याय पर अन्याय हो रहा है। pic.twitter.com/6lIW1hdvDc

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) October 1, 2020

“Will the Uttar Pradesh government intimidate people into silence? The video conference call the father had with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was a farce and meant to simply exert pressure on the family. The victim’s family is not satisfied with the investigations. Injustice is all pervasive,” Vadra said.

Priyanka said her party would continue to fight till women’s safety is ensured in Uttar Pradesh and unless the government was shaken and woken up, it would not do anything on this front.

Talking to reporters while walking on the Yamuna Expressway towards Hathras, she said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would have to take the responsibility for the alleged gangrape of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in the district and strict action should be taken against the perpetrators of the crime.

The victim died in a Delhi hospital on Tuesday.

हाथरस जैसी वीभत्स घटना बलरामपुर में घटी। लड़की का बलात्कार कर पैर और कमर तोड़ दी गई। आजमगढ़, बागपत, बुलंदशहर में बच्चियों से दरिंदगी हुई।

यूपी में फैले जंगलराज की हद नहीं। मार्केटिंग, भाषणों से कानून व्यवस्था नहीं चलती। ये मुख्यमंत्री की जवाबदेही का वक्त है। जनता को जवाब चाहिए।

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) October 1, 2020

“The Uttar Pradesh government, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath must take responsibility for women safety in the state and ensure atrocities against them are stopped,” she added.

“Since our cars have been stopped, we will walk down to Hathras as we want to meet the victim’s family. We want to express our condolences to the family,” Priyanka Gandhi said.

“He (Adityanath) would have to do something for women’s safety. We will continue to fight till the time he does something. The women in the entire state will fight as they realise that they are not safe and secure. Everyday such incidents are happening. As many as 11 rape cases are registered in Uttar Pradesh every day,” she said.

हाथरस जाने से हमें रोका। राहुल जी के साथ हम सब पैदल निकले तो बारबार हमें रोका गया, बर्बर ढंग से लाठियाँ चलाईं। कई कार्यकर्ता घायल हैं। मगर हमारा इरादा पक्का है। एक अहंकारी सरकार की लाठियाँ हमें रोक नहीं सकतीं। काश यही लाठियाँ, यही पुलिस हाथरस की दलित बेटी की रक्षा में खड़ी होती। pic.twitter.com/lRq9kLSHJz

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) October 1, 2020

“Such cases are rising and the government is not doing anything. Unless we shake the government or wake them up, they will not do anything for women’s safety,” she added.

The Congress general secretary recalled that around the same time last year, her party was protesting for the Unnao rape victim.

Taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh for “not allowing the family to cremate the victim’s body with honour”, she said: “You claim to be the protectors of the Hindu religion, we are Hindus but where has it been written that you cannot allow a father to lit the pyre of his daughter and not allow the family to cremate the victim? The incident was a big injustice. What the state government did after that was a bigger injustice.”

Rahul and Vadra were accompanied by Congress media head Randeep Surjewala and General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal to Hathras.

दुख की घड़ी में अपनों को अकेला नहीं छोड़ा जाता।

UP में जंगलराज का ये आलम है कि शोक में डूबे एक परिवार से मिलना भी सरकार को डरा देता है।

इतना मत डरो, मुख्यमंत्री महोदय!

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) October 1, 2020

The FSL report has make it clear that the woman was not raped: UP Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar on Hathras case pic.twitter.com/lEyAWi3jIA

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) October 1, 2020

Meanwhile, the state police have been deployed along the borders. — With PTI