RLD workers block traffic near Mathura to protest baton-charge on Jayant Chaudhary, team in Hathras

MATHURA: Rashtriya Lok Dal activists on Monday blocked traffic on Nauhil Bajna-Aligarh road near here in protest against the alleged lathi-charge by police on their party's fellow workers going to meet the family of the Hathras gang-rape-cum murder victim.

Chaudhary Ajit Singh-led RLD leader Yogesh Nauhar said hundreds of party workers along with the residents of various villages in the district blocked the road for several hours.

The RLD workers also burnt the effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, besides raising anti-government slogans, said Nauhar.

Expressing anger that “the heir of late Chaudhary Charan Singh's legacies” was lathi-charged by police, Nauhar said “our leader Jayant Chaudhary had only gone to express solidarity with the victim's family members”.

The RLD leaders, who participated in protest included Mathura district's president Bhagwati Prasad and RLD Cooperative Cell in-charge Kedari Pahalwan, he said.

Hathras police earlier on Sunday had said the RLD workers had broken the police barriers and pushed and shoved police personnel on duty, and to bring the situation under control, “light force” was used against the agitated crowd.