Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Thursday said the question on the minds of all women and girls in Uttar Pradesh is whether voices against an influential person, who has done wrong, will be heard.
Her remarks come after a schoolgirl in Barabanki on Wednesday asked a senior police officer if she would face the same fate as the Unnao rape victim, who was recently injured in an accident.
In a tweet in Hindi, Priyanka said, ''If some influential person does anything wrong then will our voices against him be heard'. This is the question posed to the Uttar Pradesh government by a girl student from Barabanki at a girls awareness rally. This question is on the minds of all girls and women in UP. The BJP must answer.'
Additional superintendent of police (north) R.S. Gautam was speaking at a Balika Suraksha Jaagruktaa Abhiyaan, a safety awareness campaign for girls, at Anand Bhawan school in Barabanki when the girl reportedly came up with this question.
Gautam said the girls should remain alert and if they feel anything wrong is being done to them, they should immediately call up the toll-free number. At this, the girl stood up and asked: 'If the person against whom we are complaining comes to know about it, and if we meet an accident, what will happen?'
According to some news outets, the girl then asked: 'Will I get justice on registering a protest because in Unnao an MLA had outraged the modesty of a girl, and when she was fighting the legal battle, she had an accident. She is now battling for her life.'
The officer just said: 'All complainants to the toll-free number would be provided help.'
Asserting that the Congress will strongly fight for justice to the Unnao rape survivor, Priyanka had on Wednesday said the harassment of the young woman's entire family was not possible without protection from those in power.
She also said the 'strands are now coming apart' with a police cover-up and names of ruling BJP leaders coming to the fore.
She has started using the hashtag -- #UnnaoKiBeti.
'The Congress is committed to justice. We will fight this strongly,' the party general secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh had said.
The CBI has booked BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and 10 others on the charge of murder in the accident case of the Unnao rape survivor.
Sengar, a four-time MLA, represents the Bangermau constituency in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. He has since been suspended by the BJP.
The victim has accused the lawmaker of raping her at his residence in 2017 when she was a minor. The rape case against Sengar was filed after the woman tried to immolate herself outside Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath's residence in Lucknow in April last year.
On Sunday, her car was hit by a truck when she was going to meet her uncle Mahesh Singh in a Rae Bareli jail. Two of her relatives were killed in the accident, while the rape survivor and her lawyer are in a Lucknow hospital in a critical medical condition.
The woman's family has alleged that the road accident was a result of a conspiracy. The CBI has taken over the probe in the case.
