Priyanka reaches out to victims in UP, says she stands by them

Meerut/Muzaffarnagar: Reaching out to the victims of police action in Uttar Pradesh, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday visited Muzaffarnagar and Meerut and met some of the victims and their family members.

Priyanka Gandhi, during her visit to the Muzaffarnagar seminary which has been the target of police action, met Shia cleric Asad Raza Hussaini who was badly beaten by the police.

She was accompanied by Imran Masood and former Member of Parliament Harendra Malik.

She also met a victim Ruqaiya Praveen who is due to get married next month but her house has been ransacked.

After meeting the victims, Priyanka said, “We will stand by the oppressed and against the injustice of the police in the state. I have met the Maulana who was beaten badly and the students of his madarasa are still in jail, only a few of them have been released.”

Priyanka also went to Meerut and met the families of the victims. She took little children in her lap and said that people have been beaten so badly yet no FIR has been registered.

“AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra met the family members of the victims, who died in police firing in Meerut. She met them at Partapur, Meerut. Two days ago, the police had allegedly gone to Aleem’s (who died during the protest in Meerut) house, and threatened his brother not to contest his death. She met late Aleem’s brother too,” said a statement from the Congress.

Last month Priyanka Gandhi, accompanied by Rahul, had tried to go to Meerut and Muzaffarnagar but was stopped by the police.

On December 28, she hitched a ride on a scooter when the police tried to block her way to the house of a retired IPS officer in Lucknow. She levelled “manhandling” allegations which was denied by the UP police.

On December 30, the Congress handed a memorandum to the Governor signed by Priyanka Gandhi and demanded a judicial inquiry.

The memorandum said: “We demand a full judicial inquiry into the unlawful conduct of the UP Police during the course of public demonstrations against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the implementation of a nationwide National Register of Citizens and appeal for immediate directions to be issued to the UP Police to act within the framework of the law.”

It said: “Following the Chief Minister’s shocking and disappointing public declaration that the government will take ‘revenge’ against the protesters, the administration has failed in its basic responsibility to ensure the rule of law. On the contrary, it appears to have acted in a manner that is biased, unlawful, and violative of the fundamental rights of citizens enshrined in the Constitution of India.”

 Published on: Jan 4, 2020 at 15:48 IST

IANS