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Updated: Aug 13, 2020 20:03 IST

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were stopped on Tuesday afternoon from entering Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut city to meet the families of people killed in violent protests against the amended citizenship law.

“We asked the police do you have any orders (in writing to stop us). They did not show us any orders but still turned us back,” Rahul Gandhi told reporters.

A Congress leader said Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi were stopped at Meerut district’s Partarpur area, about 50 km from the national capital Delhi.

Watch | Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi stopped by cops on their way to Meerut, sent back

“They requested that only three people would enter the district so as not to violate any prohibitory orders under Section 144 that may be in force. But the permission was declined by local police officers,” he said.

Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code empowers the administration to ban four or more people from assembling in an area.

The Meerut region was one of the worst-affected in Uttar Pradesh after protests erupted last week over the controversial citizenship law that is expected to be followed by the National Register of Citizens.

At least 19 people were killed across the state since December 19 as the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act spiralled out of control. Hundreds of people have been arrested and many cases lodged against unnamed rioters across the state, police have said.