Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday alleged that a woman police official in Lucknow had manhandled her and grabbed her “neck” while she was on her way to meet an activist and a party member jailed during the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
Ms. Vadra, who alleged that the State police had tried to stop her from meeting the families of the arrested persons, eventually met the family of S.R. Darapuri, a retired IPS officer and Ambedkarite activist. He was arrested on December 20 along with other activists.
Earlier, Ms. Vadra, whose car was stopped midway, had walked some distance and even taken a lift on the pillion of a party worker’s scooter enroute to her destination, she said.
‘Peaceful manner’
The Congress leader said she was on her way to meet Mr. Darapuri’s family and proceeding “in a peaceful manner” when a U.P. police vehicle stopped her car by “suddenly” halting in front of the vehicle.
“They said you can’t go. I asked why. They said ‘we won’t let you go’. I said, ok, stop me. I said I will walk. I started walking, but they surrounded me... mera gala dabaya (they pushed me by my neck),” said Ms. Vadra, accusing a police official of manhandling her. “They grabbed me and pushed me... I fell down,” she claimed.
The U.P. police, however, refuted the Congress leader’s version of the events.
Circle Officer Archana Singh, who was the fleet in-charge of Ms. Vadra’s security, however, said the Congress leader’s allegations of “gala dabana” and “pushing her down” were “untrue” and “misleading.”
Ms. Vadra was earlier stopped from going to the house of Sadaf Jafar, a detained Congress leader.
Mr. Darapuri’s son Ved Kumar described the Congress leader’s visit as “personal”.
Separately, in a written complaint to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Ms. Vadra’s office has alleged that a senior U.P. police officer forcefully entered the house where she was staying and threatened the CRPF officers in charge of her security demanding to know her schedule for the day.
