Rahul, Priyanka meet Hathras family

Rahul, Priyanka meet Hathras family

We Will Stand By You, No One Can Silence Us, Says Rahul After Interaction

Anuja.Jaiswal@timesgroup.com

Hathras: 04.10.2020

On their second attempt, after a standoff with cops along the state border, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi and her brother Rahul Gandhi were finally allowed to pass and meet the Hathras girl’s family on Saturday evening.

“I am a mother, I know your pain. I have nothing else to say,” Priyanka told the mother of the 19-year-old who had been allegedly gang-raped by four upper caste men in her village a fortnight before she died in a Delhi hospital. The mother broke down. Then, the doors were shut as Priyanka, Rahul and three other Congress members spoke to the family for about an hour. After stepping out, Congress MP Rahul said, “If anyone thinks they can stop us from standing for justice and truth, they are wrong. We will stand by you, no one can silence us.”

The last time they had attempted to visit the family, on Thursday, they had been detained, released and later booked for breach of Covid control measures. On Saturday, when news reached the village that the two had been allowed to cross the Delhi-UP border after police lathicharged Congress workers who had gathered on the DND Flyway, there was a flurry of activity in Hathras. Instructions were shot across to control the crowds expected.

In Mathura, where the Congress representatives had taken a break on their way to Hathras, Priyanka told the media, “I don’t understand why the government is not supporting the family. It is their duty … I have spoken to her father over the phone. I feel his pain.” When they reached Hathras, however, it was only a small group that was allowed up to the girl’s house.

When they left, the girl’s brother told the media that they had spoken about the behaviour of the local administration. “We told them about the attitude of the DM,” he said, referring to a thinly veiled “threat” reminding the family that the media would leave at some point in a video that went viral. After that, the SIT probing the case visited the family to record the statement of the victim’s father.

Samajwadi Party, meanwhile, said it will also make a second attempt to meet the family — the first had been cut short on Thursday — with party chief Akhilesh Yadav expected to visit on Sunday. RLD vice-president Jayant Chaudhary has planned to do the same.

Workers aligned with the upper caste community to which the accused belong, meanwhile, staged a counterprotest near the point of entry to the village. They complained they were not being allowed to meet the families of the accused. “A panchayat was held in favour of the four accused who are in police custody,” a worker said. “We demand an unbiased probe.”

Rahul and Priyanka with the victim’s family in Hathras on Saturday