Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police. The senior leader was arrested under Section 188. Moments before his arrest, Rahul Gandhi alleged that he was lathi-charged by the Uttar Pradesh police personnel when he and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were walking towards Hathras. The brother sister duo intended to meet the family of the gang rape victim who died on Tuesday and whose dead-of-night cremation by the UP police has provoked nationwide outrage. The Gandhis sat on the road with hundreds of supporters after the Uttar Pradesh police refused to let them continue. Ahead of the Congress leaders' visit, the UP administration enforced a ban on large gatherings and put up barricades at the borders citing the coronavirus.
Even as Congress workers blocked roads and chanted slogans, the Gandhis' SUV crossed the border, but their convoy was stopped at Greater Noida, at a point that is about 142 km to Hathras. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi then climbed out of their vehicle and started walking along with scores of Congress workers, shouting slogans against UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. After a point, a large number of UP cops tried to push them back. UP officers claimed the restrictions had been in place since September 1 and has been extended to October 31. A senior official claimed several policemen had shown Covid symptoms. However, the Congress alleged these were tactics to prevent the Gandhis from entering the village. The woman, 20, died on Tuesday at a hospital in Delhi. She had suffered multiple fractures, paralysis and severe spinal injury when she was assaulted by four upper caste men from her village on September 14. The police said there was a gash in her tongue because she had bitten it when the men were trying to strangle her. The woman's family alleged that the police had been slow to respond to their complaint and the administration had been negligent because they belong to the Dalit or underprivileged castes. The incident has drawn public anger and the UP government of Yogi Adityanath has come under attack from several opposition parties over recent crimes against women.