Rahul Gandhi on Thursday travelled to Hathras and met the family of a Dalit teen who had died after being allegedly gang-raped by four youths in 2020, amid claims that the Yogi Adityanath administration was pressuring the family to leave the village.
The Congress MP’s surprise visit lasted about 45 minutes. He left without talking to the gathered journalists, but the victim’s brother said Rahul had promised to take up the family’s cause beforethe government.
“We had no information about the leader of the (Lok Sabha) Opposition’s visit,” a local administrative official told reporters.
“The local police station informed us about some commotion in the village and we sent a few policemen. However, a CRPF team has been stationed there since 2020 tomaintain peace.”
The official said Rahul had called a local administrative official during his meeting with the family but the “official was busy somewhere else and couldn’t come”.
He said Rahul asked the official over the phone whether there was any plan to forcibly remove the family from their home, “and the officer told him they (authorities) had no reason to do so”.
The victim’s brother was quoted as telling reporters: “Government officials frequently come and ask us to shift from the village, saying some people could attack us. They tell us that the CRPF wouldn’t be here all the time to protect us.”
The family had made similar allegations before the media earlier too, and this seemed to have reached Rahul’s ears.
“A member of Rahul’s team had contacted us to find out about the situation. We were informed this morning that he would be here,” the victim’s brother said.
Rahul arrived at the village, 180km south of Delhi, around 11am. A few local Congress leaders had informed journalists about the impending visit around 10am. But Rahul’s advance security team arrived at the victim’s house and blocked both entry gates.
Rahul and his sister and now fellow Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had met the family in the village after the girl’s death four years ago.
The victim’s brother said: “The government had promised a job to a member of our family and a pucca house but did nothing. Rahul told us he would take this up.”
Deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak alleged it was a political visit by Rahul “who is desperate for an issue”.
The September 14, 2020, crime had triggered national outrage and raised questions about the role of the police, who were accused of refusing to register a rape case for days.
After the 19-year-old victim died on September 29 in a Delhi hospital where she had been shifted, the police allegedly seized the body, brought it to her village and cremated her in a field against her family’s wishes and withouttheir presence.