What difference suspending some pawns would make: Priyanka continues her attack on Yogi government over Hathras gang rape

NEW DELHI: Maintaining pressure on the UP government over the Hathras rape and murder case, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday attended a prayer meet at Delhi’s Valmiki Temple and said the party will not sit quietly till justice is ensured.

“She wasn’t even given a cremation following Hindu customs. We will put political pressure on the government,” she said while addressing an event organised by the Valmiki community.

She said every woman in this country needs to raise her voice and question the government to seek justice for the daughter of Hathras.

“I request everyone to raise their voice and every woman needs to question the government to seek justice for the daughter of Hathras,” she told the gathering.

Even after the Hathras SP and four other cops were suspended, the Congress leader continued her attack on the Yogi government and asked what difference suspending "some pawns" would make and demanded Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's resignation.

The Uttar Pradesh government suspended Hathras SP Vikrant Vir and four other policemen on Friday over their handling of the gangrape-murder case.

Tagging Adityanath, Priyanka Gandhi asked what difference suspending "some pawns" would make.

"On whose order Hathras victim, her family, was made to suffer. The phone records of Hathras DM and SP should be made public. The chief minister should not back off from his responsibility," the Congress general secretary said in a tweet in Hindi.

The country is watching, chief minister Adityanath tender your resignation, she said.

Besides Vikrant Vir, the other suspended policemen are Circle Officer Ramshabd, Inspector Dinesh Kumar Verma, Sub-Inspector Jagveer Singh and Head Constable Mahesh Pal, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said.

Later, in another tweet, Priyanka Gandhi tagged a media group's statement over the leak of a purported telephone conversation between a journalist and the victim's brother. Again tagging Adityanath, she tweeted, "RESIGN. You have no moral right to continue as Chief Minister of UP."

The 19-year-old Dalit woman was allegedly raped at a village in Hathras by four men on September 14.

After her condition deteriorated, she was referred to the Delhi's Safdarjung hospital where she breathed her last on Tuesday.

She was cremated in the early hours of Wednesday, with her family alleging the local police forced them to conduct the last rites in the dead of the night.

But the police said the cremation was done "as per the wishes of the family".

(With PTI Inputs)