Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev stopped from entering Shahjahanpur (Twitter/Sushmita Dev) Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev stopped from entering Shahjahanpur (Twitter/Sushmita Dev)

About 80 Congress workers were arrested and party leaders like Jitin Prasada and Kaushal Mishra were put under house arrest ahead of a rally protest march that the party had planned in support of the law student who accused BJP leader and former union minister Chinmayanad of rape, news agency PTI reported.

Called the “Nyay Yatra”, the 5-day 180-km rally was planned from Shahjahanpur to Lucknow. Senior leaders of the party were expected to take part in the march.

According to Superintendent of Police (city) Dinesh Tripathi, Congress workers were holding a meeting in front of the party office at a time when prohibitory orders were promulgated in the city and 80 of them have been arrested. “They had not taken any permission from the administration. After arrest, they have been taken to Police Lines,” Tripathi said.

Police sources claimed that Prasada, district Congress president Kaushal Mishra, leader of Congress Legislative Party in the UP Assembly Ajay Kumar Lallu and senior party leader Dheeraj Gurjar were among those arrested and kept at Police Lines.

“SDM Sadar and CO City told me that I and Jitin Prasada have been put under house arrest. When they were asked as to why a heavy police force was deployed outside the residence of Prasada, we were told that no one will be taking out any padyatra,” Mishra told PTI.

Jitin Prasada talking to the Uttar Pradesh Police on Monday (ANI) Jitin Prasada talking to the Uttar Pradesh Police on Monday (ANI)

“UP is no Kashmir yet today I am in preventive custody for simply wanting to highlight the plight of the Shahjahanpur rape victim. This BJP govt has no qualms in quashing an individual’s fundamental rights,” Prasada tweeted. There was heavy police deployment outside his residence since morning.

The party also accused BJP of helping Chinmayanad in “every way possible.” ” “The Congress demands that the hearing of the rape case against Chinmayanand be taken up in a fast-track court,” the deputy leader of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, Aradhana Mishra said. “”This fight will be fought by the party from the streets to the state Assembly,” she had said, announcing the rally.

Chinamayanand, booked under IPC sections 354 D (stalking), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation), was arrested last week. He has been in hospital since Sunday after two days in prison. The woman, meanwhile, was last week sent to 14 days judicial custody on charges of extortion.

What is there to be afraid of, Priyanka asks UP govt after arrests over rally

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra alleged that criminals in UP have the protection of the government so they can intimidate the rape victim. “The UP BJP government wants to suppress the voice seeking justice for daughter of Shahjahanpur. The padyatra is being stopped. Our workers and leaders are being arrested. What is there to be afraid of?” the Congress general secretary in-charge UP East said on Twitter.

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