Lucknow, Oct 3 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu on Saturday said he had been put under house arrest in order to "stop" him from going to Hathras and fight for justice for the Dalit woman who died after she was assaulted and allegedly gang-raped.
Congress spokesperson Anshu Awasthi alleged that the step had been taken to prevent Lallu from joining party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who are again headed towards Hathras in another effort to meet the family of the victim.
"I'm under house arrest. I am being treated as a criminal," Lallu told PTI. "This is only to stop me from going to Hathras and fight for justice for the gang-rape victim."
"This shows how scared this government is. Is it wrong to fight for the victim or meet the family members?" he asked.
The state Congress said Lallu, district heads and more than 500 workers had been placed under house arrest. "Yogi ji, don't stop those who fight for justice. Stop the crimes," it tweeted.
According to Lallu, police came to his house in Lucknow around 1.30 am and started banging on the door. He was handed over a notice that a case has been filed against him at the Hazratganj police station and he has to appear next Friday.
"This morning, I saw policemen at my door and they stopped me from going for morning walk, telling me that I'm under house arrest. Force has been deployed at my door," Lallu said.
The Congress leader alleged that he could not even click a picture of the notice as it was taken away after getting his signatures.
According to Awasthi, the state government was only "exposing" itself by resorting to such tactics.
The Congress spokesperson said the government removed all doubts from people's mind that it had resorted to "hooliganism" and was "blatantly standing with the criminals of Hathras".
The Dalit teen died of her grievous injuries in the early hours of Tuesday in a Delhi hospital and was cremated in the dead of night near her home on Wednesday, with her family alleging that they were forced by local police to hurriedly conduct her last rites, triggering outrage nationwide and protests in several places. She was attacked on September 14.
